How long should TV shows be? The rise of shorter TV (2024)

FAQs

How long should TV shows be? ›

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. In the United States, dramas produced for hour-long time slots typically are 37–42 minutes in length (excluding advertisem*nts), while sitcoms produced for 30-minute time slots typically are 18–21 minutes long.

Election Thoughts, a series of 15 programmes 30 seconds long, complete with titles, programme content, credits and original music score were broadcast by Channel 4 at intervals during the three weeks before the UK General Election of 1997.

Since sitcoms consist of 30-minute episodes, the page-to-minute ratio needs to be close to that mark. Screenwriters need to also take into account commercial breaks. Most sitcom episodes are actually only around 22 minutes long because of them.

TV Production Values Have Increased (& So Have Budgets)

With budgets for television shows ballooning, it makes sense that fewer episodes would be produced, as that would mean less money for studios to have to spend on a show.

Some shows might run less than a half-hour, such as some children's programs or Adult Swim shows. And other series might run as long as a feature film every episode. Lengthy episodes that surpass the hour-and-a-half mark are not uncommon on UK television or in mini-series programming.

Generally speaking, hour-long episode scripts can be anywhere from 45-63 pages, although a majority of the time you want to stick with 50-55 pages. The basic sense of it is that one page equals one minute, and with a 60-minute show, you obviously need to account for commercial breaks.

Turn-On is an American surreal sketch comedy series created by Digby Wolfe and George Schlatter that aired once on ABC on Wednesday, February 5, 1969. Only one episode was shown partially before being cut off and pulled from ABC's airing schedule, leaving another episode unaired.

'Turn-On' was the shortest lived show in TV history, and one of the most fascinating.

Originally airing in 1937 as an American radio show, “Guiding Light” made the move to the screen in 1952 where it ran on CBS as a soap opera for 57 annual seasons. It was created by Irna Phillips and Emmons Carlson, who based the radio show on their personal lives.

Most TV shows run anywhere between 10–100 minutes. With the average “hour-long” show running for about 42 minutes and the “half-hour” shows running from about 22 minutes to the full 30, minus commercial breaks (remember commercial breaks?).

How many minutes of commercials in a one hour TV show? ›

What is the average length of commercial breaks in a 1-hour TV show? According to data made available by Statista, the average time for commercials made available by the main TV channels in the US ranges from 12 to 17 minutes per hour.

Most acts include three to five scenes, and most TV shows have four acts, so that's anywhere between 12 and 20 scenes in a single episode.

The decline of traditional TV continues, even as the prices of streaming services rise. Total traditional TV usage, comprised of broadcast and pay TV, dropped below 50% in July for the first time ever, according to Nielsen's monthly streaming report, The Gauge.

The decline in traditional broadcast and cable television viewership is accelerating, falling below a major milestone for the first time. In July, linear TV made up less than half of all TV viewing, according to Nielsen.

Watching TV and video generated brainwaves is associated with pleasant, wakeful relaxation and absorbed cognitive capacity, taking viewers' minds off other things,” the study says.

When they analyzed the data, the team found that those who had the lowest overall health risks were those who viewed TV for 2 hours or less per day. They estimated that 6 percent of all deaths and 8 percent of cardiovascular deaths were associated with TV-viewing time.

A 30-minute show is usually between two to three acts, and it can depend on what type of show it is and what platform hosts it. For example, a show on HBO doesn't have to deal with time restraints necessitated by commercials (which also act as natural act breaks), whereas a show on ABC or CBS does.

Most TV shows run anywhere between 10–100 minutes. With the average “hour-long” show running for about 42 minutes and the “half-hour” shows running from about 22 minutes to the full 30, minus commercial breaks (remember commercial breaks?).

The pages per half-hour vary greatly by show, but most fall between 20 and 40 pages. This range is based on the average length of an episode of television, which is about 22 minutes for network primetime dramas and 10 minutes for cable.