While Anime has emerged as the defining growth story, the report reveals a broader shift in the kinds of stories audiences actively choose to consume. Traditional blockbuster genres including Action, Adventure and Fantasy have lost relative share, while Thriller, Horror and Mystery have strengthened their position, with growth increasingly concentrated around richer fictional worlds, suspense, mythology and long-term audience engagement.

Drawing on MUSO’s Discover Demand dataset, the report examines global demand at genre and subgenre level, alongside regional and original-language analysis. By measuring consumption across unlicensed streaming and torrent platforms, Discover Demand provides a distinctive view of underlying audience interest outside the constraints of platform availability, recommendation algorithms and subscription models.

Download the full Global Film & TV Demand Trends 2026 report to discover:

• How anime more than doubled its share of global TV demand from 2019 to 2026
  
• How traditional blockbuster film genres including Action, Adventure and Fantasy have lost relative demand share
• Why Thriller has become film’s fastest-growing major genre
• How Superhero Action has declined while supernatural fantasy, military and survival-focused Action have gained ground
• How Horror demand is shifting towards occult, folklore and psychologically driven storytelling
• Why Mystery audiences are increasingly favouring Murder Mystery, Literary Mystery and Psychological Mystery over traditional detective-led stories
• What seven years of data reveal about the growing importance of richer worlds, suspense and sustained audience engagement
• How regional analysis can uncover audience trends hidden within global averages

About MUSO

MUSO is a data company that provides the most complete and trusted view of unlicensed media consumption and global piracy demand. MUSO's expertise, data and technology help rights-owners measure and protect their content from piracy and enable companies to make better decisions that drive performance, ROI and value.