Major Global TV Trends for 2024–2025: A Balance of Tradition, Innovation, and Escapism
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In 2024, the global TV landscape was marked by both continuity and disruption. Glance’s Nota (New on The Air) monitoring tool, which tracks new launches across 48 territories, highlights the stories, formats, and programming strategies shaping the screens of tomorrow. From the rise of invincible heroines to the boom in branded entertainment, here’s a look back at the major trends defining contemporary television.
Drama: stories rooted in their era… or in complete contrast to it
A ruthless world, invincible women
One of the most prominent trends emerging in international markets is the spotlight on female characters. In 2024, the two most exported series feature very assertive and determined female characters: Elsbeth (United States), a spin-off of The Good Wife, driven by a brilliant, nonconformist heroine, and Maxima (Netherlands), a biopic about the wife of the King of the Netherlands, part contemporary fairy tale and part portrait of an influential woman.
These heroines, far from clichés, dominate the storylines and captivate audiences around the world. Queen of Fucking Everything (Finland) is a prime example: this series, which chronicles a real estate agent’s rise to criminal power power Indicator for evaluating formats in the context of a media plan. This is the prioritisation of formats according to their target audience. Find out more against a backdrop of social satire, boosted viewership by 61% above the average for the channel channel A subset of the brand URLs that overlap with a single theme (e.g., news, e-mail, etc.); the channel audience contributes to the overall audience of the brand, which itself contributes to the overall audience of the Parent. Find out more . Meanwhile, The Tale of Lady Ok (South Korea) quadrupled its channel’s performance thanks to a bold narrative blending historical drama and female empowerment.
Looking to the past to reflect the present or to escape it
In an anxiety-inducing global context, many dramas are choosing to look to the past. This is the case with Whiskey on the Rocks, the most-watched drama series of 2024 in Sweden, which revisits a Cold War diplomatic incident while drawing a critical parallel with the current geopolitical climate. Other series, such as the highly anticipated Merteuil (France), offer a form of aesthetic escapism by immersing viewers in lavish universes, while maintaining a strong social commentary on power struggles and emancipation.
Those Elites We Love to Hate
Another striking trend: the ambivalent fascination with elites, whether economic, political, or Digital Digital A signal is said to be digital if it can be represented by a series of discrete values that can be coded in binary as either 0 or 1. It is the opposite of analogue signal. Digital broadcasting has become the primary mode for television broadcasting, whether by cable, satellite, or even terrestrial. Find out more . The share of series exploring the business world or the lives of the wealthy rose by 16% in 2024. Los Casablanca (Chile), which draws on the conventions of telenovelas, and Live (Kuwait) embody this trend, oscillating between social criticism and voyeuristic appeal. In Live, influencers become the playthings of a kidnapper seeking an audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more , highlighting the excesses of self-promotion.
Entertainment: Between Recycling and Innovation
A Sea of Formats… We’ve Seen Them All Before
The year 2024 confirmed the reign of adaptations. Foreign formats continue to dominate programming schedules, particularly in the United Kingdom (80 adaptations), Sweden (70), and the Netherlands (43). Cult shows are making a comeback, such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, fueled by a wave of nostalgia.
Branded Entertainment: A Different Way to Fund and Tell Stories
In the face of tight budgets, branded entertainment is emerging as an innovative solution. This hybrid genre, which combines content production with advertising objectives, is experiencing rapid growth.
In Spain, Encuentros Con Sabor, a cooking competition sponsored by the famous Mahou beer brand brand Brand is the “brand” level. A brand is a set of URLs which are identified by the same logo. A brand is a coherent ensemble from the user viewpoint, in particular given the graphic charter or brand universe. Find out more , has captured the imagination of a wide audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more . But it is Celebrity Send Off (United Kingdom) that is drawing particular attention: broadcast broadcast A mode of transmission whereby a transmitter sends the same audio and video stream to many receivers within a coverage area. In the context of computer networks, broadcast mode is contrasted with “multicast” and “unicast” modes, which respectively refer to the transmission of a stream to a given group of recipient devices and to a single recipient device. OR : Putting a show or a programme on television or radio. This term refers to a programme that is broadcast live as opposed to on-demand. Find out more on the YouTube channel channel A subset of the brand URLs that overlap with a single theme (e.g., news, e-mail, etc.); the channel audience contributes to the overall audience of the brand, which itself contributes to the overall audience of the Parent. Find out more and video-on-demand platform of Channel 4, the show—in which celebrities’ loved ones organize their fictional funerals—combines dark humor, taboo subject matter, and compelling storytelling, with support from the funeral home Co-op Funeralcare.
The Unexpected Rise of Board Games Adapted for the Screen
The surprise also comes from the world of games. Adaptations of Scrabble, Pictionary in the United States, and even the game 10/10, Combien tu te mets ? in France, these shows are capitalizing on the growing craze for board games, driven in particular by digital digital A signal is said to be digital if it can be represented by a series of discrete values that can be coded in binary as either 0 or 1. It is the opposite of analogue signal. Digital broadcasting has become the primary mode for television broadcasting, whether by cable, satellite, or even terrestrial. Find out more platforms and mainstream events like the Cannes International Game Festival. The Netherlands is adapting “party games” with very simple rules. Following the success of 10/10 Combien tu te mets ?, two more board game adaptations have been announced for the fall season on TF1: Focus and Bataille Navale.
Talpa, a leading figure in Dutch entertainment, launched the format 30 Seconds last summer—based on a board game and hosted by Johnny De Mol. Xavier Rambert describes it as “good-natured, fast-paced, and making the most of its extremely simple gameplay”. 30 Seconds has been a huge success, particularly among young adults, with a 78% increase in viewership among 20- to 34-year-olds.
On a more complex note, Chess Master in the United Kingdom increased its share of the young adult audience by 65%, proving that playful nostalgia and interactivity can revitalize the game show genre.
Unlike newer formats, chess is part of intangible cultural heritage, which opens the door to adaptations of nostalgic games or childhood games: The Hiding Game, inspired by hide-and-seek, launched in Norway last October, and in France, a “musical chairs” game project is planned for late 2025; another is in development in Spain.
A Global Geography of Television Exports
In terms of exports of unscripted formats, three countries clearly dominate the market in 2024: at the top is the United Kingdom, followed by the United States, then the Netherlands. This hierarchy reflects both the richness of their format catalogs (particularly in entertainment) and these countries’ ability to create narratives with strong universal appeal.
Nota reveals a changing audiovisual landscape: between formal continuity—adaptations, format recycling—the search for alternative funding through branded entertainment, and new forms of storytelling driven by socially engaged or introspective narratives. In 2024–2025, global television is exploring new avenues to capture the attention of an increasingly demanding audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more , one that is often seeking meaning or an escape.