While watching hours of our favourite show has got many of us through lockdown, streaming services are making the shift back to drip-feeding episodes instead of dropping entire seasons at once.
Netflix changed the game when it released House Of Cards in one go back in 2013, but as the Sydney Morning Herald reports, other streaming services are going back to weekly releases.
Mare of Easttown and The White Lotus on Binge have been huge successes as a weekly release, while Disney+ has get the suspense alive with weekly releases of its Marvel hits Loki and The Falcon and Winter Soldier.
So why the shift back to waiting for episodes?
According the Sydney Morning Herald, it’s all about keeping the buzz alive as long as possible.
“We have the choice to wait and drop it all at once in 10 weeks time but, if you hold something back, you’re not only stopping the consumer choice but you’re getting left out of the conversation,” Alison Hurbert-Burns, executive director at Binge told Sydney Morning Herald.
“One thing I loved about Mare of Easttown was it allowed people to create a community, there were podcasts and stories each week and it gained this cultural momentum.”
Streaming services have realised that by releasing week-to-week episodes, the audience remains engaged with the show. It also allows people to remain connected to others during lockdowns.
“We are more socially isolated than ever before, so it’s good to be able to have something that we can experience together,” said Dr Brad Ridout, from the University of Sydney’s Cyber Psychology Research Group.
“This old-fashioned way of watching keeps us on the same page in a way bingeing doesn’t facilitate.”