• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 3, 2024

After a steep slowdown in global streaming originals starting in early 2023, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other streamers have sharply increased their schedules with fresh content in the first quarter of this year.

Media analysis and research company Ampere Analysis estimates Netflix to have given the “green light” in the first quarter of this year to 225 new global TV original new series, compared to 150 for Amazon Prime Video.

Disney is estimated to have added 50 -- with Paramount, Comcast-NBCUniversal and Apple TV+ in the 25-50 range.

Looking at original TV programming across the globe, Amazon started up 71% more original content than in the fourth quarter of 2023, while Netflix added 68%.

Factored into all of this was a slowdown in production in mid-2023 due to writers' and actors' strikes.

Overall, analysts still believe the longer trend for a mature premium streaming video business -- where profits can be slim -- will see more moderating efforts in terms of producing original content.

In the first quarter, Netflix and Prime Video account for 53% of all new original TV series content, per Ampere Analysis. These results exclude theatrical movies, Amazon Freevee, and the India-based .miniTV, a free, ad-supported video streaming service within the Amazon Shopping app.

From an earlier report, entertainment data company Luminate Film & TV says 2023 was the first year ever on U.S.-based streaming platforms that total scripted and unscripted original series dropped to 783 -- versus 1,000 in 2022.