How much room does the TV market have for TV shows based on comic books? More TV shows based on comics books are slated for the next few years, but should we be worried right now about market inundation? Can the public support a high number of TV show based on comic books? For this article, we are going to look primetime TV, and not afternoon animated shows as those have been on the market for decades.
The Walking Dead
On and Coming Soon
Let’s take a look at the current, and upcoming TV shows based on comic books. We have Season 4 of The Walking Dead and Season 2 of Arrow. Within weeks, we will have the premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and have told about the strong possibilities of Thief of Thieves and Flash.
When
Don’t worry about immediate inundation as it takes a year or two to get a new TV show off the ground. It could be a few years until the comic book market has a firm presence in the primetime TV market. There could come a day when we look to television and realize the market is saturated with TV shows based on comic books and that the market could be ready to burst. I just don’t see that happening in the next year or two.
Other Markets
Even though reality TV has passed its prime, there are still very many on TV. The same could be said for contestant shows such as American Idol and AGT. While these shows might not be pulling the numbers they once did, they are still strong. Essentially, even if the comic book-based market ballooned, it might still hold strength for a long time.
The Transition
I remember when I worked for a few sites analyzing the television market and realized that whenever the market is in a state of flux (between one type of dominant show and another), game shows would flood the market. Note the high number of them right now. I see the network execs just waiting for TV shows based on comic books to take off.
Diversification Can Save
Comic books might be superhero-heavy, but the market is still diversified in other areas. As long as the TV shows based on comics show diversification, the market should stay strong. If we see too many TV shows based on comic books take on a superhero theme, the market could go down quick. We can still have our heroes, but those with super powers could drag the market down. Rick and his crew from The Walking Dead and Oliver Queen from Arrow were strong starters, but we cannot have too many men running around in tights if we want the market to stay strong. As long as the diversity is kept, we could realistically have market dominance.
When Could this Happen?
As I stated before, it takes about a year to two to get most TV shows through production. With all of the networks tripping over each other to get comic book-based TV shows, we might not find an issue until around 2015/16 TV season. As someone who loves the comic book medium, I am looking forward to seeing how the networks deal with TV shows based on comic book and hope they don’t screw it up.
