In a bit of positive news for the entertainment industry, Netflix executives announced on Tuesday that they plan to increase their annual cash content spend by $1 billion this year, from $17 billion to $18 billion. This comes as the streaming giant saw record-breaking subscriber growth, adding 19 million new members for a total of 302 million global subscribers.

However, Netflix's continued growth stands in contrast to the broader Hollywood ecosystem, where the divide between the industry’s big players and smaller studios has been widening since the Peak TV era ended in 2022. New research reveals that the total number of TV episodes produced in 2023 dropped significantly compared to the previous years, reflecting the impact of spending cutbacks and the dual writers and actors strikes.

In 2022, a total of 16,012 TV episodes were produced, but this number fell to 13,300 in 2023 and 11,069 in 2024, according to a report by data provider Luminate. When measured by total hours of TV, the figure dropped from 14,958 hours in 2022 to 10,405 hours last year.

Among streaming platforms, most saw fewer U.S.-produced TV premieres in 2024 compared to 2023. Netflix was an exception, with 146 premieres in 2024 compared to 140 in 2023. Peacock and Prime Video also increased their premieres, but Disney+ saw a significant decline, dropping from 25 premieres in 2023 to just 9 in 2024, as the company focused on bundling its services with Hulu and ESPN+.

Despite a slowdown in streaming releases, theatrical releases saw a slight uptick, with 121 major studio films hitting theaters in 2024, up from 113 in 2023. However, the number of streaming-only film debuts fell from 296 in 2023 to 264 last year.

Overall, production in Los Angeles has also seen a decline. Shoot days across film, television, and commercials in the city fell from 36,792 in 2022 to 23,480 in 2024. National production volume also dropped 35% in Q3 2024 compared to 2022, according to ProdPro.