VoD services are turning away from new romance titles

Globally, the reality genre has experienced a decline in commissions, especially from VoD services, with the number of shows announced dropping by 36% between H1 2022 and H1 2024, according to Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza from Ampere Analysis. This fall is led by first-run Romance and Dating titles, which only contributed 10% of VoD’s first-run Reality shows in H1 2024, compared to 23% in 2022, and dropping in volume by 71% since the first half of 2022.

This fall has partly been caused by global SVoD services shifting their focus away from U.S. commissions. While previously the subgenre’s top commissioning region, contributing 25% of all first-run Romance & Dating titles between 2019 and 2023, the first half of 2024 only saw two announcements, both from local U.S. SVoD services. This move reflects several factors: market saturation, confidence in established renewed titles, and better opportunities for growth in other territories.

Netflix’s H1 2024 first-run Romance and dating titles, for example, originate from Japan, Spain, the UK, and UAE and represent 36% of the sub-genres first-run VoD titles. Localized formats among these announcements include “Too Hot To Handle Spain” and “Love is Blind Arabic.”

Indeed, the streamer’s global reach and extensive catalog of Original formats make it easy to recreate successful content in different markets without having to broker licensing deals. Exported formats pique new local audiences' interest and bring in pre-existing fan bases from more oversaturated territories. Of Netflix’s formats, the Romance & Dating show “Love is Blind” has the highest number of local versions, commissioned in nine territories.

Similarly, although VoD services aren’t prioritizing new show ideas, they are still committed to already successful Romance & Dating content. The first half of 2023 saw renewed titles overtake the sub-genres first-run announcements for the first time since H1 2021, with renewals accounting for 66% of the sub-genres commissions by H1 2024. Of these renewals, 74% were formats, including “Couples Therapy: Season 4” (Paramount+), “Too Hot To Handle Germany: Season 2” (Netflix), and “The Bachelorette Japan: Season 3” (Amazon).

Although the landscape for new Romance & Dating commissions seems bleak, VoD services have shown their willingness to renew successful programs, with global streamers enjoying success when expanding existing formats from the sub-genre into different markets.