Does Viewer Research Reveal Patterns in What Makes Streaming Shows Hits?
Forecasting the success of streaming content based on the IP behind it—whether it’s a legacy property like Family Feud or a video game adaptation like The Last of Us—is harder than it may appear, but do patterns emerge in historical viewership data or viewer surveys that offer usable clues? Hub Entertainment Research Principal Jon Giegengack takes a crack at unraveling the mysteries of streaming show success in this conversation with Integration Therapy Owner and Principal Rebecca Avery at Streaming Media Connect 2026.
How the Content Is Packaged and Surfaced Matters
Avery notes that catalog content is everywhere, and some shows are owned by multiple platforms but they perform better on one platform over another. “Do you see any patterns associated with that?” she asks.
Giegengack says Hub Entertainment Research seeks to answer questions such as, “Will people be more likely to watch a show if it’s a streaming FAST show, if it’s live streaming a network brand, or if it’s live streaming a genre?” He gives the example of The Walking Dead, which can be packaged in various ways: as part of an AMC Networks thread, as horror, or as featuring zombies, for example. He wonders, Which is the best approach?
“You can spin the Rubik’s Cube and surface [content] to people in different ways,” he continues. “And our data suggests that there’s a huge difference in the appeal depending on how you surface that piece of content.” Giegengack points to the practice of breaking Family Feud into clips as smart because it showcases the best one-liners or outrageous moments, so “you’ll get a whole different set of people that will watch that than would tune in to watch an episode,” he believes.
The community aspect also brings in viewers: “The fact that you can tap into this content that has a community to it, even if it hasn’t been activated in a long time, [shows] that interest is still there,” Giegengack asserts. “I think that the opportunity, especially to find the passionate communities that exist around some of this catalog content, like a Gunsmoke, that’s a huge and almost completely untapped opportunity in TV right now.”
Avery agrees, adding the example of MMA fighting to that. “It pays to not try to be everything for everyone, to find that passionate audience and create an amazing experience for them, right?” she confirms.
The Boost of a Built-In Community
Giegengack says, “The stuff that we’re seeing that kind of surprises people are shows … or even content or creators that have a built-in, highly engaged community.” For example, “when The Last of Us came out on HBO, that was the second-biggest debut on HBO Max that they’d ever had after House of the Dragon. And then the jump from episode one to episode two was the biggest jump between episodes in the history of HBO for any show ever.” He notes that that surprised a lot of critics. “But if you dig down into the background, it makes a lot of sense, that The Last of Us is obviously based on a video game” that’s been popular with tens of millions of people for more than a decade.
He continues, “They spent 60 bucks on the game. They spent 12 to 18 hours working their way through the campaign. That’s if they only played it once. And so they were really immersed in this community, this story, these characters. And so of course, if someone goes and puts that on television, they’re going to come out of the woodwork and sign up for HBO Max ... and watch it. That surprised all the people who aren’t video gamers and who didn’t play The Last of Us. All those people saw the 100% Rotten Tomatoes reviews and they came in and watched the episodes after that and turned it into a phenomenon.”
Avery chimes in, “The Last of Us has this huge franchise, but not to mention the fact that it’s just a world-class, well-made show. Content is king.”
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