Life is full of decisions. Every single day, we decide what time to set our alarm, what to wear, what to eat, what to prioritize at work, and at the end of a long day, what to watch.
Streaming services have taken over from traditional cable television viewing. 80.7 million US households are expected to have cut the cord by the end of 2026. But have we finally hit the limits of how much content we can produce and watch? Is there a limit to our watchlists and the number of arguments that we have with our partners and friends about what we could watch next?
According to Nielsen’s The Gauge, streaming has officially exceeded both cable and broadcast television viewing combined, making up 47.5% of total TV viewing in the US. While Netflix still holds the lion’s share of viewers (57% of U.S. streaming original viewing time for the first half of 2026 according to Luminate), there is an interesting shift happening between original programming and library catalogues that might have the ability to shake things up.
The amount of original programming produced by streaming giants has declined, with U.S.- produced original streaming series falling 12% year-over-year in the first half of 2026. As the Entertainment Strategy Guy points out, the streaming bubble keeps popping. He predicted the content bubble would pop in 2022, saying:
“What if that frothy spending in Hollywood over the last decade, the budgets that funded that huge increase in the number of shows, comes to a screeching halt? Last year, Hollywood made more TV shows than ever before. And not by a little bit. The town added 349 series since 2009! A 166 percent increase! Not even the price of gas is going up that fast!
But, but, but…what if, instead of a glide path towards entertainment’s streaming nirvana, that chart represents a bubble that’s about to burst?”
And he was right! However, this content streaming bubble has now popped multiple times as original programming continues to decline. As shown here in data by Luminate, you can see the peak in 2022 as original streaming TV premieres reached record highs, followed by a steep decline in 2023 and a continued decline in 2025.
Cost certainly plays a factor in this decline, as does competition among streaming platforms, but viewer preference is also a key factor. Luminate has found that audiences stream library films and TV far more than original streaming content. This is partly driven by volume, with almost 19,000 library titles available on major streaming services in the US, but it is also by audience demand. Classic shows like The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy continue to draw high streaming numbers, from both new viewers as well as those who continue to rewatch older content.
The Irresistible Pull of the Rewatch
When asked about percentage of time spent, TV viewers claimed to watch old content almost 60% of the time. This includes spending 31% of their time rewatching old content that they had already seen before. Rewatching has become a trend, with rewatch podcasts popping up left and right. With a rewatch podcast, typically a few stars from the show will watch episodes weekly and recap them with their listeners, giving behind-the-scenes scoop while playing into the nostalgia that most viewers feel when rewatching one of their favorite shows.
Then, there are “comfort shows,” which millennials are famous for putting on when they need to mindlessly watch a show they have seen before to help them forget about the stressful workday they just had, or better yet, the state of the world. Melissa Kirsch wrote for the New York Times that, while rewatching might seem like a waste of time, if it’s soothing and pleasurable, there’s really no need to judge it any further.
SIDE NOTE: Asking for a friend, are you someone who needs to finish one show before you will start watching another? How many episodes do you give a show before moving to the next one? While we are at it, do you feel like you must finish a book you start regardless of whether said book is any good?
***
With thousands of familiar titles available at the touch of a button, we are perfectly comfortable returning to the stories and characters we already know. Instead of the streaming content bubble, the real bubble to watch might be the number of streaming services themselves. While streaming started as a way to cut the costs of cable and offer video on demand, if you add up your subscriptions plus your internet bill, you may find that you are close to where you used to be with cable.
Maybe the streaming bubble hasn’t burst but has simply changed shape.
Regardless, we will keep doing what we do best: scrolling through five streaming services for 30 minutes before finally deciding to watch a show we’ve already seen before.
Life is full of decisions. Every single day, we decide what time to set our alarm, what to wear, what to eat, what to prioritize at work, and at the end of a long day, what to watch.
Streaming services have taken over from traditional cable television viewing. 80.7 million US households are expected to have cut the cord by the end of 2026. But have we finally hit the limits of how much content we can produce and watch? Is there a limit to our watchlists and the number of arguments that we have with our partners and friends about what we could watch next?
According to Nielsen’s The Gauge, streaming has officially exceeded both cable and broadcast television viewing combined, making up 47.5% of total TV viewing in the US. While Netflix still holds the lion’s share of viewers (57% of U.S. streaming original viewing time for the first half of 2026 according to Luminate), there is an interesting shift happening between original programming and library catalogues that might have the ability to shake things up.
The amount of original programming produced by streaming giants has declined, with U.S.- produced original streaming series falling 12% year-over-year in the first half of 2026. As the Entertainment Strategy Guy points out, the streaming bubble keeps popping. He predicted the content bubble would pop in 2022, saying:
“What if that frothy spending in Hollywood over the last decade, the budgets that funded that huge increase in the number of shows, comes to a screeching halt? Last year, Hollywood made more TV shows than ever before. And not by a little bit. The town added 349 series since 2009! A 166 percent increase! Not even the price of gas is going up that fast!
But, but, but…what if, instead of a glide path towards entertainment’s streaming nirvana, that chart represents a bubble that’s about to burst?”
And he was right! However, this content streaming bubble has now popped multiple times as original programming continues to decline. As shown here in data by Luminate, you can see the peak in 2022 as original streaming TV premieres reached record highs, followed by a steep decline in 2023 and a continued decline in 2025.
Cost certainly plays a factor in this decline, as does competition among streaming platforms, but viewer preference is also a key factor. Luminate has found that audiences stream library films and TV far more than original streaming content. This is partly driven by volume, with almost 19,000 library titles available on major streaming services in the US, but it is also by audience demand. Classic shows like The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy continue to draw high streaming numbers, from both new viewers as well as those who continue to rewatch older content.
The Irresistible Pull of the Rewatch
When asked about percentage of time spent, TV viewers claimed to watch old content almost 60% of the time. This includes spending 31% of their time rewatching old content that they had already seen before. Rewatching has become a trend, with rewatch podcasts popping up left and right. With a rewatch podcast, typically a few stars from the show will watch episodes weekly and recap them with their listeners, giving behind-the-scenes scoop while playing into the nostalgia that most viewers feel when rewatching one of their favorite shows.
Then, there are “comfort shows,” which millennials are famous for putting on when they need to mindlessly watch a show they have seen before to help them forget about the stressful workday they just had, or better yet, the state of the world. Melissa Kirsch wrote for the New York Times that, while rewatching might seem like a waste of time, if it’s soothing and pleasurable, there’s really no need to judge it any further.
SIDE NOTE: Asking for a friend, are you someone who needs to finish one show before you will start watching another? How many episodes do you give a show before moving to the next one? While we are at it, do you feel like you must finish a book you start regardless of whether said book is any good?
***
With thousands of familiar titles available at the touch of a button, we are perfectly comfortable returning to the stories and characters we already know. Instead of the streaming content bubble, the real bubble to watch might be the number of streaming services themselves. While streaming started as a way to cut the costs of cable and offer video on demand, if you add up your subscriptions plus your internet bill, you may find that you are close to where you used to be with cable.
Maybe the streaming bubble hasn’t burst but has simply changed shape.
Regardless, we will keep doing what we do best: scrolling through five streaming services for 30 minutes before finally deciding to watch a show we’ve already seen before.
Marc Ehrhardt
President
The Ehrhardt Group