There had been rumors lately that despite the success of its flagship programs, Netflix is struggling to accelerate membership growth. As a result, the company’s binge strategy will be coming under increasing scrutiny as it seeks to keep its subscription base.
Well, to all the Netflix binge-watching fans out there you take a sigh of relief. Netflix, contrary to its rumors, claims it has no intentions to stop delivering all episodes of a TV series at once for binge-watching.
Netflix refuses weekly release policy
Netflix, which established the practice of binge-releasing full TV series, has stated that it will continue to do so. “We believe our binge-able release strategy drives substantial engagement, especially for newer titles,” Netflix wrote in its Q3 shareholder letter, which was released alongside quarterly results. “This enables viewers to lose themselves in stories they love.” Netflix stated that,
“It’s hard to imagine, for example, how a Korean title like ‘Squid Game’ would have become a mega hit globally without the momentum that came from people being able to binge it,”
Netflix says it's committed to binge-releases 📺
They will not switch to weekly releases pic.twitter.com/2CMLjSA2VN
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) October 18, 2022
Netflix said in the shareholder letter. “We believe the ability for our members to immerse themselves in a story from start to finish increases their enjoyment but also their likelihood to tell their friends, which then means more people watch, join and stay with Netflix.”
The company’s comments came after allegations that leaked on the internet last month that Netflix executives were considering changing their binge approach and releasing blockbuster titles on a weekly basis.
Netflix challenges the streaming formats of other OTT platforms
According to Netflix, the binge-release strategy helped “generate strong interest” in their shows like Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which is now the No. 2 English original series in the initial 28-day window.
The company included a Google Trends chart that it claimed demonstrated how the ability to watch all 10 episodes of Monster — all of which were released on Sept. 21 — drove a much larger spike in search queries for Dahmer compared to non-bingeable Amazon Prime Video The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and HBO’s The House of the Dragon.
Fans are applauding Netflix’s choice to keep the series’ binge-watch style alive and well, with fans sharing the following on their Twitter accounts;
Less money for them more content for us I guess
— YG B (@YG_Bree) October 18, 2022
No way people defending week to week releases bruh 😂. I’m trying to finish the Story ASAP
— haterade (@_HATERADE_8) October 18, 2022
I never understand why people like the weekly releases :/
— 🕷Mr.Ant🐜 (@MrAnt728) October 18, 2022
GOOD. for anyone who dislikes this have some self control and just watch one episode per week 💀
— Slim (@ZourrexSlim) October 18, 2022
Good. Not only is this their advantage over competition, but most of all stuff like Squid Game, All of us are dead, Dahmer, Lupin, Money Heist or You would never become such monstrous hits if they got released in weekly model.
— Adrian Werner (@AdrianWerner) October 19, 2022
Although Netflix does release some reality series, such as Love Is Blind and The Circle, batches of episodes over several weeks. Furthermore, it has separated the most current seasons of popular shows such as Stranger Things, Ozark, and Money Heist to increase user interest and engagement.
According to Netflix, a whole TV season may not be available in its entirety in some situations because the title is licensed from a network, and “the episode will normally be available on Netflix the day or week after it was shown on its original network.”
Well, we fans are excited to see what further shows Netflix has got for us. So, grab your snacks and drinks, and let’s so go on binge watch journey.
Source: Twitter
