In this exclusive viewpoint for ScreenMDM, Xavier Rambert, international research manager at content and audience insights firm Glance, reveals how local scripted dramas are increasingly shaped by a shared global conversation.
The past year has confirmed a shift that many of us working in international TV content analysis have sensed for some time: fiction is no longer simply reflecting society from a safe distance. It is actively engaging with the same tensions, debates and emotional fault lines that dominate our news feeds.
At the recent 2026 Series Mania Forum, we set out to capture this evolution. The aim was not to catalogue TV trends, but to reveal how local scripted dramas, with strong audience impact, are increasingly shaped by a shared global conversation.
Drawing on our NoTa TV content insights platform, which tracks new series launches across 48 territories, we identified programs that significantly boosted their broadcasters’ average market share. All rankings are drawn from Glance’s Top Scripted Series report, released in March 2026, which analyzes the best-performing scripted series of the year 2025.
From this analysis emerged four clear thematic segments, forming a coherent narrative about where scripted drama storytelling is heading. These include:
1: Headline Fiction: A Pandemic of Crises
This first theme brings together dramas that confront the most pressing societal issues head-on. For example, Denmark’s The Uniform examines institutional authority and public trust through the lens of a police academy shaken by a fatal shooting; it multiplied DR1’s average audience share among young adults by 2.61.
Quebec’s Deep Fake taps into anxieties around artificial intelligence and digital manipulation, following a young woman drawn into a conspiracy after a fabricated video destroys her mother’s political career. Belgium’s The Best Immigrant imagines a chillingly plausible near future in which migration policy becomes a televised competition, exposing the fragility of democratic values.
Completing the segment, Ukraine’s Hiding the Ex offers an intimate portrayal of grief and masculinity against the backdrop of war, focusing on the emotional aftermath rather than the battlefield itself. Together, these series demonstrate how fiction is increasingly positioned as a space for collective reflection on crisis, accountability, and identity.
2: VAR—Varied Arenas Referenced
This topic of TV dramas explored sport as a narrative arena for self-assertion and transformation. For example, Australia’s Goolagong retraces the rise of Evonne Goolagong Cawley, intertwining sporting excellence with questions of race, gender, and national identity. This series multiplied ABC TV’s average audience share among all individuals by 2.22.
Finland’s Guts plunges viewers into the psychological pressure of elite cross-country skiing, portraying rivalry and ambition among young women in a niche but culturally resonant discipline.
Brazil’s Capoeiras uses the physical and symbolic space of capoeira to explore brotherhood, betrayal, and social roots, while Saudi Arabia’s Karate turns a private school into an arena where class, discipline, and resilience collide.
These series highlight how sport-driven narratives are moving beyond competition to become powerful vehicles for visibility and representation.
3: Crime—School Files
Focusing on educational settings as pressure cookers for contemporary anxieties, this topic includes programs such as Italy’s Standing Tall, which centers on a respected headteacher whose life unravels after a revenge porn scandal, blending social commentary with classic melodrama. Germany’s Shadow Leaks shifts perspective to students, exposing the cruelty of digital culture when a mysterious platform publishes their secrets, and ranked second among the best performing new scripted series in 2025 among young adults3.
Indonesia’s Secret High School, adapted from a viral TikTok story, combines undercover investigation with youth-driven storytelling, while the Czech series Friend tackles the sensitive issue of abuse of trust within a school hiking club. In each case, the school environment amplifies the emotional stakes, transforming crime narratives into reflections on vulnerability, power, and responsibility.
4: Culture—Nostalgia Revisited
This topic offers a counterbalance, reminding us of fiction’s capacity for comfort and continuity. For example, Sweden’s Astrid Lindgren’s Seacrow Island reintroduces a beloved literary world to new generations through co-viewing-friendly storytelling, which ranked number one best-performing new scripted series in 20254.
South Korea’s The Legend of the Kitchen Soldier bridges generations by adapting a popular webtoon into a military drama with a playful twist, while the announcement of a new Evangelion series underscores the enduring global power of iconic franchises.
These titles show how nostalgia, when reimagined thoughtfully, can unite audiences across age groups and borders.
Relevance is No Longer Optional
What links these four themes is not a specific genre, geography, or budget, but intent. Each TV program engages with audiences by tapping into shared concerns, memories, or aspirations, while remaining deeply rooted in its local context.
For broadcasters and platforms, the success of these series confirms that relevance is no longer optional. Fiction that “moves the needle” does so because it speaks directly to the world viewers recognize around them.
As TV audience analysts, our role is to decode these signals and understand how storytelling mechanics align with audience expectations. The programs highlighted illustrate a market where local stories travel further when they dare to be specific, topical, and emotionally grounded. In an increasingly crowded TV landscape, it is this combination of authenticity and ambition that will continue to define international hits.
Xavier Rambert is International Research Manager at Glance.
References:
1 Glance / Nielsen Television Audience Measurement (Denmark).
2 Glance / OzTam Pty Limited (Australia).
3 Glance / AGF – GfK FernsehForschung (Germany).
4 Glance / MMS – Nielsen Audience Measurement (Sweden).
