Diving Into The Summer I Turned Pretty
Photo: Amazon Prime Video
Even before the strikes against studio bosses ground the television industry to a halt this year, the content bubble that had fueled the streaming wars of the last few years was starting to burst. Stagnating subscription growth at Netflix prompted the streamer to cancel not just shows, but entire departments. Max, the streamer formerly known as HBO Max, initiated cost-cutting measures so drastic that the release of an already completed blockbuster film was canceled just to get a tax break. Amazon Prime Video has so far been insulated by the forces causing cuts at other streamers because so much of its revenue is generated by the company’s massive retail business. But thanks to a few expensive projects that failed to generate much interest from viewers, it seems that Amazon, too, will be expecting more from the shows it green-lights and renews.
But while Citadel and The Peripheral may have disappointed Amazon execs, The Summer I Turned Pretty outperformed expectations. The show was #1 on Amazon the weekend of its release, and three Taylor Swift songs from its soundtrack reentered the Billboard Top 40 three years after their release. The budget for this coming-of-age romance likely pales in comparison to what goes into building the massive worlds of sci-fi/fantasy like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (save for maybe its soundtrack), yet it shot to the Top 3 of the Watchworthy leaderboards both when it first debuted last year and ahead of its Season 2 premiere in July 2023. As it decides whether to slash budgets or cancel many other shows, Amazon faces a much better task with The Summer I Turned Pretty: how does the copmany grow its audience even more?
To help Amazon answer that question, we’re diving into the fan base for this show to find out just how beloved The Summer I Turned Pretty is by TV fans and why. And with the state of streaming in flux, we’ll also be looking at some audiences for shows that belong to other streamers who are more likely to enjoy the teen drama, and therefore might be more willing to spend their subscription dollars at Amazon to do so.
Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered July 14 on Amazon.
Photo: HBO
What Do Fans Love About The Summer I Turned Pretty?
What’s the best way to categorize The Summer I Turned Pretty? Its fans see it primarily as a romantic comedy — it’s voted #2 on our list of The Best New Romantic Comedies Of 2022 and is already #3 on The Best Romantic Comedy Shows Of 2023. The show also does well on more general lists that feature romances of all kinds, as it ranks #15 on the list of The Greatest TV Shows About Love & Romance.
But unlike more mature romps such as Uncoupled and Emily in Paris, The Summer I Turned Pretty is also a show about teenagers that is directed (at least in part) at teenage viewers. It succeeds on this account, too — at least, it succeeds with the 14,000 people who voted on The Best New Teen TV Shows Of The Last Few Years, where The Summer I Turned Pretty is #9. And although The Summer I Turned Pretty isn’t yet thought of as one of Amazon’s marquee shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it’s still #18 on The Best Amazon Original Drama Shows. If this show were to get the kind of showstopping marketing campaigns as Mrs. Maisel, it might end up with a similar level of name recognition.
The bottom line: just because this show happens to be teen romance doesn’t limit the audience to teens. Despite its relative lack of hype, The Summer I Turned Pretty consistently ranks highly on competitive TV lists, outperforming romantic comedies with big names and adult themes.
Who’s Reaching The Summer I Turned Pretty Fans?
The Summer I Turned Pretty already topped Amazon’s charts last year, the streamer should really be focusing on drawing audiences away from other streamers and networks. With new content becoming more and more scarce thanks to the ongoing strikes, Amazon can entice fans of these shows to stream new episodes of this popular show — it might be the last opportunity they have to reach teen romance fans like this with new content for some time.
NETFLIX
No streamer has been better at creating content for teen romance fans than Netflix in the past few years, thanks to both American shows like XO, Kitty and Never Have I Ever, and imports like Heartstopper. Netflix’s proven ability to create American hits out of shows produced out of the country could protect it from the effects of the strikes, since writers and actors abroad aren’t beholden to the union rules that prohibit Hollywood writers and actors from working (though they could strike in solidarity). Amazon can try to curtail that advantage by promoting the newest season of The Summer I Turned Pretty to fans of Outer Banks and Ginny and Georgia, who are 5X more likely to enjoy Amazon’s sleeper hit, as well as fans of Emily in Paris, who are 2X more likely to enjoy Summer.
These viewers love The Summer I Turned Pretty and… Outer Banks, Ginny and Georgia, Emily in Paris
THE CW
The CW’s content has always been directed at younger audiences, so it makes sense that viewers of many of its popular shows are more likely to also be fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Amazon likely won’t be taking any subscribers away from The CW directly — most of its content is streamed through platforms like Netflix and Max. But the shows that appeal to The Summer I Turned Pretty fans all have established fan bases, with no new episodes to come in the near future, if at all. That makes their audiences easier to target on platforms like Facebook, which has a Suggested Audiences tool that allows marketers to target users with specific content preferences. The sports drama All American, telenovela parody Jane the Virgin, and bloodsucking soap opera Vampire Diaries are all 3X more likely to appeal to fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
These viewers love The Summer I Turned Pretty and… All American, Jane the Virgin, The Vampire Diaries
ABC
Again, while ABC is not a streamer, its shows are streamed by millions on Hulu and Disney+, so fans who aren’t going to see new episodes of their favorite shows any time soon could be convinced to reallocate their streaming budget from those platforms to Amazon. The fantasy drama Once Upon a Time and the medical dramas Grey’s Anatomy and The Good Doctor are all 2X more likely to love The Summer I Turned Pretty, indicating the strength of the show’s appeal outside the teen romance genre. Reaching out to fans of these shows could maximize returns on Amazon’s comparatively modest investment in its hit romance show.
These viewers love The Summer I Turned Pretty and… Once Upon a Time, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor
