Television has entered a golden era thanks to a boom in new scripted series (NFLX, AMZN, TWX, DIS)

Television in the US has entered a golden era. As anyone with a Netflix, Amazon Prime, or HBO account knows, there are a wealth of high-quality shows available to watch, and the amount of “must-see” TV just seems to keep getting bigger and bigger.

And that’s more than just an impression — statistics back it up. As we can see in this chart from Statista, which is based on data from FX Networks Research, the number of first-run, scripted TV series aired in the US hit a new high last year, reaching nearly 500. That number is more than double what it was as recently as 2010. The growth is largely due to all the original shows being developed for Netflix, Hulu, and the other online streaming services.

Statista