Prime Video's #1 Global Hit Series Takes Advantage Of Massive Streaming Trend

Published Nov 11, 2026, 7:01 PM EST

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.

Although every streaming service and cable network has cashed in on one popular trend recently, Prime Video’s worldwide number one hit proves that the streaming service is at the vanguard of this particular cycle. Despite TV’s infamous reputation for chasing trends, the entertainment industry can sometimes move surprisingly slowly when it comes to riffing on popular titles thanks to the slow speed of television production.

While HBO’s Game of Thrones became a huge hit when the show debuted in 2011 and was a massive worldwide success by 2013, Netflix’s The Witcher didn’t reach screens until the HBO show’s series finale aired in 2019. Prime Video’s ambitious Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power took even longer, with the fantasy adaptation only arriving in 2022 even though the series was clearly intended to act a Game of Thrones replacement or substitute.

Similarly, even though Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes had a massive global hit in 2020 with the alternate history romance novel adaption Bridgerton, it took almost half a decade before the rest of the industry caught onto this trend. In 2025, Heated Rivalry became a colossal success, and this hit was followed by a flurry of romance novel adaptations including Prime Video’s Off Campus, Every Year After, and, most recently, Campus Drivers.

Prime Video's Campus Drivers Proves Romance Novel Adaptations Are Unstoppable On Streaming

Prime Video/Amazon News

Based on the bestselling book series by author CS Quill, Campus Drivers is a six-episode romance novel adaptation that aims to recapture the success of Prime Video’s earlier 2026 hit Off Campus. The story of the series follows Carmen Kassovitz’s Lois as she arrives at Belrose University with her love interest, Max, only to end up living with Baptiste Madeline’s Lane. Lane is famous on campus for inventing the titular ride-share app, and what starts out as awkward cohabitation soon blossoms into something else entirely.

Campus Drivers immediately proved a massive breakout hit when the series arrived on the streaming service, rocketing to number one worldwide despite stiff competition from high-profile shows like The Terminal List. This might seem surprising, but the consistent success of Bridgerton and its spinoff, Heated Rivalry, and Off Campus, as well as original romance shows not based on novels, such as Prime Video’s small-town story Sterling Point, make the development less shocking.

Much like Shonda Rhimes’s underrated political thriller Scandal was part of a massive genre resurgence that also included Designated Survivor, Madam Secretary, Veep, House of Cards, and even The Newsroom, her Bridgerton success was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to successful streaming adaptations of romance novels. Like Bridgerton, Heated Rivalry, and Off Campus, Campus Drivers is also a multi-book series, meaning there are two more seasons of material ready to go if the show is renewed.

Prime Video (via MovieStillsDb)

This in-built longevity is particularly useful at a time when even the biggest streaming projects are struggling to maintain their fan bases. Wednesday season 2 saw a major drop-off in viewers when the Addams Family spinoff released its second volume in 2025, but romance novel adaptations are a safer bet for streaming services since they tend to be less expensive than flagship fantasy or sci-fi shows.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Prime Video’s upcoming romance thriller Perfect Liars proves that the genre has a winning flexibility that allows these shows to incorporate elements from other genres seamlessly. Anyone who was around for the Twilight saga’s Team Edward and Team Jacob fan wars knows that fantasy romance is big business, but the success of Campus Drivers proves that contemporary romance, romantic comedies, romantic thrillers, and historical romances clearly also have the viewing public’s heart in 2026.