Streaming services are competing over the rights to add classic TV shows to their libraries. NBCUniversal committed to paying $500 million for exclusive rights to stream The Office for five years. WarnerMedia picked up Friends for $425 million for five years. Netflix paid $500 million for a five-year lease of Seinfeld.

Similarly, in the audio world, there is a rise in the "rewatch podcast." Name a TV hit, and there is probably an accompanying podcast taking a trip down memory lane.

Over the past year, it has never been easier to find something new to watch on TV. Despite so much fresh content, there is a growing trend for people to rewatch old series.

Data backs up the anecdotal evidence that 2020 (during the pandemic) was the year of the rewatch. The most stream...