The number of unscripted shows commissioned in North America fell by 14% in the run-up to the writer-actor strikes, as the unscripted boom seen in the previous labor action failed to materialize.
Ampere Analysis measured the volume of North American unscripted titles commissioned between H1 2022 and H1 2023, just after the writers first put down their pens and a few weeks before SAG-AFTRA called members to action.
While the previous labor strikes in 2007-08 are widely regarded as leading to an unscripted boom, Ampere’s research shows that the networks didn’t rush to the genre as the action approached, and this has been confirmed anecdotally via Deadline’s conversations with unscripted producers over the past few months.
Ampere found that unscripted shows based on formats were less affected in North America, with a decrease of just 6% over the same period.
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