Scripted series rose to 80% of new European premium TV titles by 2019

European premium television underwent a gradual but decisive shift toward scripted programming between 2002 and 2019, according to a study published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Lorenzo Cattani and Guglielmo Pescatore analyzed a manually curated dataset of 1,134 television series distributed by premium operators, tracing how the balance between scripted and unscripted content changed over nearly two decades.

The researchers found that scripted content remained below a quarter of new titles until 2006, passed half of all new titles from 2014, and reached 80 percent by 2019. Crucially, this rise did not come at the expense of unscripted formats: unscripted output continued to grow throughout the entire period. The authors describe this pattern as institutional layering, in which a new programming category gradually gains prominence without displacing the existing one.

Methodologically, the study combined longitudinal analysis of programming catalogs with log-linear growth models and bootstrap resampling. The authors frame their work through an institutionalist lens, emphasizing that the transformation of premium television programming strategies was layered and incremental rather than abrupt or revolutionary.

A second key finding concerns where scripted series came from. The growth of scripted programming rested throughout on a combination of original commissioning and licensed acquisition, with neither strategy superseding the other.

The study covers the period from 2002 to 2019 and is limited to series distributed by premium operators in Europe; it does not extend to other distribution channels or to the years since 2019. The authors note that the article is being shared early as a peer-reviewed, accepted version of record pending further edits.

According to the authors, the findings reveal how European premium operators strategically adapted within existing institutional structures rather than replacing them, and the study offers a framework for understanding contemporary television production in transnational, multi-platform contexts. The analysis of catalog data shows that the shift toward scripted content proceeded steadily, without a clear turning point, as scripted and unscripted output expanded in parallel across the period studied.

Subject of Research: The gradual shift toward scripted programming in European premium television from 2002 to 2019

Article Title: Layered transitions: the strategic evolution of scripted content in European premium television (2002–2019)

Article References: Cattani, L., & Pescatore, G. (2026). Layered transitions: the strategic evolution of scripted content in European premium television (2002–2019). Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09340-z

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09340-z

Keywords: premium television, scripted content, unscripted formats, institutional layering, European TV, original commissioning, licensed acquisition, television series, programming strategy, media industry, Layered, transitions