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pseudopad t1_j5qu4tq wrote

Reply to comment by Nightshade238 in Ted Sarandos says that Netflix has “never canceled a successful show” by avery5712

Shows are only successful if everyone binges them in the first week. Having a backlog of shows that last all the way to the end of the story seems to not be important to them.

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pingveno t1_j5s19pt wrote

I never really appreciated the episode per week format until someone pointed out the benefits. It lets viewers form a community that discusses each episode, speculates on new developments, and savors it over time.

From the platform's standpoint, that means fewer people subscribing just to binge a show or two. Hence Disney can trickle out Mandalorian episodes that retains subscribers, but Netflix drops Stranger Things in one or two batches every year or more that might get fewer sustaining subscribers.

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pseudopad t1_j5s268f wrote

I completely agree. Binge watching is a short term "pleasure" but I think it's detrimental to the long term impact of shows. Either you binge everything asap, or you get the show spoiled on next Mondays lunch break.

It turns the entire thing into a solitary experience. You never really feel like there's a point in talking to acquaintances about the shows, because the odds of you being at the same point in the show are so low.

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jacob4408 t1_j5undsk wrote

Dude, you're projecting. Just because you need an artificial release schedule to force you into a social sharing experience, that doesn't mean others need that mechanism or want that same result. If your social group is going to spoil all your shows on lunch breaks then find a better social circle.

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Cahootie t1_j5spf08 wrote

Arcane did it in an interesting way. They had nine episodes with three distinct story arcs, and they split it up into three drops of three episodes. You pretty much got a trilogy of movies dropping once a week, and it became a good trade-off. You got your binge moment while also allowing hype to build over the course of the release which turned out extremely successful.

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pingveno t1_j5st13n wrote

Wheel of Time, for all its flaws, made another interesting choice. They started out by dropping three episodes, then switched to one per week. That got people started with the story (which starts a little slow), but then trickled in with the rest. Then again, WoT has a different fan dynamic because the book series has been finished for ten years already. There's not much guessing to be done.

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AgentUpright t1_j5trfy4 wrote

Disney+ does that for most of their shows. First week usually has 2 or 3 episodes, then they release 1 a week till the end of the season.

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charleswj t1_j5s2u1u wrote

Binging was a great strategy when they were growing so quickly. They should have long switched to weekly releases. There are shows I literally miss because I haven't logged in for a while and it's no longer even promoting it to me

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Graega t1_j5sdrnq wrote

This is actually it. Netflix looks at completion ratio - how many people started the series or season, and how many finished it? But when Netflix was new and binge was the thing, that worked. Now? Most people I know watch an episode, or a few, each week. They don't binge the entire series in a sitting anymore. Netflix is canceling shows while people are still actively watching them and are being tallied in the non-complete demographic. They're impatient, and it's leading people not to start series until they've been picked up for the next season at all.

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street-trash t1_j5sr6qb wrote

Yup. Or they stop watching the series because they hear it’s cancelled.

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stroopwafel666 t1_j5sschz wrote

The people with the most disposable income are also often the people who don’t have time to watch an entire series in a few days.

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skrenename4147 t1_j5rvgsz wrote

I'm probably the only lilyhammer fan but I was sad it wasn't properly finished

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Infynis t1_j5rz1sj wrote

The intro to that show scares the daylights out of my parents cats, to the point that Lilyhammering became a word they use anytime something startling happens.

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jooes t1_j5skjoc wrote

> Shows are only successful if everyone binges them in the first week

Which is dumb because streaming was supposed to be different than regular TV.

I might've tuned in every Wednesday to watch this week's episode of Lost 15 years ago

But I love the convenience of streaming. I can take my time and get around to something at MY pace...

But they're not giving people enough time to actually do that. That first week or two goes by, and BAM, cancelled... Like, could you not? Could you give me a minute?

I'm sure they ran the numbers, I'm sure that this is what's "financially best" for Netflix... But I really think it's going to bite them in the ass in the long run. It was already annoying as fuck starting shows and having them pulled off Netflix before you got a chance to finish. It's doubly annoying to have them cancelled before you even have a chance to catch up. I've still never watched the second season of Sense8 because I just don't see the point.

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PlagueWheels t1_j5zq72e wrote

What are some of the most egregious examples of this?

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Gschu54 t1_j5sm2ib wrote

>Shows are only successful if everyone binges them in the first week.

That's because you don't have to pay residuals in the first 90 days.

So a show that everyone watches in the first 3 days is cheaper than the one people watch slowly.

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