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Study with a clear result
Thrillers on all channels: More murders than ever on German TV
Hanover. There are more murders than ever on German TV. Movies and series about murders and murders are more popular than ever, according to the study “Viewer Behavior Trends” published in the specialized journal “Media Perspectives”.
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“Crime stories not only remain the most popular fiction genre among Germans, but are even gaining in importance,” the study states. “They now account for 48 percent, almost half of fiction consumption. All other genres, such as romance, comedies, hospital series, westerns or science fiction, have to divide the other half of the television fantasy time between them. By comparison, ten years ago, only 37 percent of fictional television consumption was in the crime genre.
The following are statistics and tables that impressively document the increasing number of murders and murders. Last year’s 100 most-watched fantasy programs included 89 crime thrillers. “The remaining eleven programs are an edition of Traumschiff, nine episodes of Der Bergdoktor and Ferdinand von Schirach’s court drama Enemies,” according to a study in Media Perspectives – Traumschiff-Captain Florian In. In 2021, Silbereisen, Bergdoktor Hans Sigl and bestselling author Ferdinand von Schirach were the only ones who could resist the general influx of crime stories.
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Ratings of crime films: “Tatort” only in third place
A closer look at the number of viewers is interesting: out of the ten most successful television film series in 2021, nine can be attributed to the crime film genre. Good old Stumpi was on top with Stubbe – Tödliche Hilfe with a market share of 28.1 percent and 9.4 million viewers: ZDF reactivated audience favorite Wolfgang Stump for the thriller Stubbe last year – a smart move. In second place is ZDF’s Nord Nord Mord (27.5% market share and average 8.6 million viewers) with the brooding, silent symbol of the North, Peter Heinrich Brix.
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Only in third place is Tatort: some films in the ARD crime series achieve incredible top ratings of up to 14 million viewers – especially if they come from Münster, where Jan Josef Liefers and Axel Prahl solve cases as an investigative duo. Average “crime scene” in 2021 “only” had an impressive total of almost 8.4 million viewers and a market share of 25.2 percent. This is followed by such crime series as “Police call 110”, “Erzgebirge Crime”, “North by Northwest” and others. Der Bergdoktor was the only film series without a criminal background to make the top ten in this category: a good eighth place for audience favorite Hans Sigel and his brave fighters from the Wilder Kaiser.
Even in the series, the Germans kill
In the rest of the fictional program, things look a little better if you look at the table with TV series ratings and market shares: although crime stories such as Die Chefin with Katharina Böhm and an average of 6.5 million viewers, or Der Staatsanwalt also dominates here with Rainer Hunold (6.3 million viewers), but at least four of the top ten in 2021 series had nothing to do with murder and murder, such as: the hospital saga Charité, season seven. Tierärztin Dr. Mertens’, the lawyer comedy Die Heiland – Wir sind Anwalt and the last season of the convent clothes Um Himmels Sake with Fritz Wepper and Janina Hartwig.
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By the way, the new study does not answer why Germans are so crazy about crime novels and want more of them, but other media studies have already looked into this question. Key words such as “anxiety” and “stress reduction” should be mentioned here. But many viewers also feel satisfied with their sense of justice when…
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