With the days getting shorter, the sunlight dimming sooner, viewers’ interest in genres are changing, as well.
Let us have a look at Google Trends suggested Netflix trends as of early October when the freshness of summer slowly starts to turn into cosy blanket weather.
Swedes value Drama, Romance and Fantasy most, while not seeking out any content to chuckle at. With darker moods incoming, upcoming Comedy content is nearly as unappealing to Swedish viewership as Documentaries, it seems.
Meanwhile, as Denmark is also interested in both Drama and Romance, here we are looking for an additional thrill by searching up Thrillers, Action laden content, and Social Issue Dramas. There is a focus on grittiness and tenacity, letting go of fluttery spring and summer emotions, indulging in Comedy and laughs.
This is completely different for the Fins, whose search behaviour suggests that they are most looking for those exact things to laugh or marvel at with Comedy and Fantasy showing up most after Drama, which serves better as a day-to-day escape than the gloomy genres or the realism that comes with Documentaries.
Norway also prefers the now established “big three”: Drama, Romance, and Fantasy followed up by both Crime and Thrillers, with Documentary serving as the tail light. Especially Period Dramas and magical Fantasy are captivating hearts as Halloween grows closer and imagination likes to run wild.
Germans seem to be thrillseekers, with both the Genres of Drama and Thriller having equally as much attention. It might come as a surprise that Crime is the least cared for, with Germans being known for enjoying coming together to watch the likes of Tatort, Mord mit AussiCht, and Der Letzte Bulle. In this case, we will attribute this to many crime shows demonstrating characteristics of Thrillers, so that much content is categorized as such instead of Crime.
Now that we have had a peek at Google suggested trends, we can conclude that while Fantasy and Romance are quite popular, Drama takes the cake across the board. Although Comedy & History / Documentaries are more niche, they do experience popularity in Finland and Denmark respectively. Germany likes, besides Drama, gritty and exciting content, like Action and Thriller. We find Romantics in both Norway and Sweden.
These simple observations may seem dry at first. Maybe this is just random behaviour that has no reason behind it. Truly though, there is always a reason for users to seek out the specific content they are consuming.
With Halloween approaching, darkness coming in sooner, it makes sense that we all have different ways to ring in the change of nature. While Germans like to embrace the gloomy and gritty feeling the darker days bring with them, both Sweden and Norway are much more inclined to see the beauty in it, opting for a romanticizing approach, the golden glittering of falling leaves, hot drinks by the fireplace and sparks of love. Both Danes and Fins like to be kept on their toes, be it by watching heart-pounding inducing Action or, as the Fins like it, by watching hilarious Comedy content.
In the end, no matter how viewership chooses to get ready for the darker days, at Simply.TV we are constantly assessing cultural traits that play a role in specific markets and continuously compile and reconsider dazzling localised content collections. Your global brand with a focus on local collection building works to find great solutions that fit each region’s viewership needs perfectly, so that they may drive extraordinary user experiences, with spectacular metadata and advanced content discovery.