62% of the 50 Most Popular Series Are Based on Something That Already Existed

Of the 50 most popular series in our database of 50K+ titles, 31 are adaptations, reboots, sequels, or spinoffs. Original IP accounts for just 19. The most-watched shows on every major streaming platform are overwhelmingly built on something that already existed.

The Top 20 Most Popular Series: Originals Are the Exception

We ranked series by community engagement across 50K+ titles. Here’s what the top 20 looks like when you sort by original vs. adapted:

Eleven of the top 20 are adaptations. That includes every Marvel and DC property, both Star Wars series, and the number one show on the list. The originals that break through — Stranger Things, Squid Game, Breaking Bad — are the exceptions that make the rule visible.

Expand to Top 50 and It Gets Worse

The top 50 by engagement tells the full story.

Comics alone supply 9 of the top 50. Book adaptations add another 7. Video game adaptations — The Last of Us, Arcane, The Witcher — are the fastest-growing source. Manga adaptations like Naruto, Attack on Titan, and Demon Slayer hold 4 spots.

DropThe Data: Of the 50 most popular series across 50K+ titles in our database, 31 are based on existing intellectual property. Comics (9), books (7), video games (3), manga (4), franchise extensions (5), and remakes (3) outnumber original creations nearly 2:1.

The Source Material Breakdown

Why Studios Prefer Proven IP

A single season of a streaming series costs between $10M and $30M per episode. Game of Thrones cost $15M per episode in its final seasons. The Lord of the Rings show cost Amazon reportedly $58M per episode.

At those price points, studios want a built-in audience. A comic book with 500,000 readers is a proven concept. A bestselling novel is a proven concept. A video game with 30 million players is a proven concept. An original script from an unknown writer is a gamble.

The math works. The Last of Us debuted to HBO’s second-largest audience in a decade. Arcane was the most-watched show on Netflix in 60+ countries the week it dropped. Wednesday — a reboot of a 60-year-old franchise — broke Netflix’s English-language viewership record.

The risk is that original voices get squeezed out. The 19 originals in our top 50 include some of the most critically acclaimed series ever made — Breaking Bad, Peaky Blinders, Chernobyl, Dark. But they’re increasingly rare. And the pipeline for new ones keeps shrinking as studios double down on what’s already proven.

The Video Game Era Is Just Starting

The newest adaptation pipeline is video games. Three game-based series cracked the top 50 — and all three debuted after 2019. The Last of Us proved a game narrative could translate directly to prestige TV. Arcane proved animation could compete with live-action for global audiences. Cobra Kai proved nostalgia IP from the 1980s still has legs.

Netflix alone has adaptations of Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, and Horizon in development. Amazon is producing Tomb Raider and God of War. Disney has Tron. The next wave of top-50 series will likely push the adaptation ratio even higher.

Original TV isn’t dead. But it’s outnumbered. When 62% of the most popular series in history are built on something else’s foundation, the message from studios is clear: they’ll fund your vision, as long as someone else proved it works first.

Sources: DropThe.org analysis of 50K+ series (community engagement data via TMDB). Production cost data from industry reports.