The end of binge watch and stripped drama?

[Sweetcorn]

We have noticed over the past year many streaming services have stopped putting entire series of shows available to binge on quickly , reverting to one a week added to stream. In fact think only Netflix has new drama and shows still added entirely ?

Is this change due to the pandemic and lack of drama and shows to add so add new ones slowly weekly or is this new tactical way like a tv channel would screen one episode a week?

Noticed this week the stripped drama on itv started with good ratings but has faded more now, would this drama have benefited from just being a Monday night drama ? Has the draw of stripped drama on tv channels now faded ? Is it best to go back to traditional one a week screenings? As such dramas like libe if duty only one a week but the most popular drama series .

With who wants to be a millionaire and beat the chasers now becoming itvs Saturday night shows previous they where stripped across the week is it not only drama loosing the stripped over the week draw but entertainment as well?

Will only reality tv like I'm a celebrity and the bgt live semi finals week get the stripped treatment in future?

[Neil Jones]

Not necessarily, it depends on the show and whether it's worth doing for the "broadcaster". After all in the days of linear TV you had to watch it weekly anyway (or fill an entire VHS tape up with the series and then "binge" it).

Nothing's changed, its just delivered differently.

[sjames]

I think the problem with stripped drama is that works more effectively when it's some kind of event series like Torchwood: Children of Earth. Like with most things it's become overkill over the years, and not as attention-drawing as it once used to be.

Whilst I still enjoy linear TV to continue with the weekly format for drama series, I actually prefer being able to binge something on Netflix than having to wait. Recently I watched Locke & Key Series 2 on Netflix and watched all 10 episodes in a couple of days, but compare that to say The Mandalorian on Disney+ and I waited a few weeks to be able to watch it one go.

[eyeTV]

Disney+ seemingly always go weekly with their Marvel / Star Wars original series. I suspect that it's about keeping the casual viewers for longer.

Churn is increasing with streaming services. Viewers will subscribe to see a particular series and then promptly leave again. If you go weekly you might keep them for longer than you would otherwise.

[Neil Jones]

Churn is increasing with streaming services. Viewers will subscribe to see a particular series and then promptly leave again. If you go weekly you might keep them for longer than you would otherwise.

And of course offering yearly deals (like you see with Prime and Disney+ and maybe others) reduces this, as you pay £80 and you're in for the year. Netflix doesn't offer this its only monthly billing (but then at a starting price of £6 a month it works out to near enough the same)

But of course by only offering monthly billing it doesn't matter to Netflix if they release one episode or 12 episodes in one go. More incentive to string it out on Prime/Disney with monthly billing.

[tellyblues]

Regarding Beat The Chasers and Millionaire, they've been promoted to Saturday night because ITV have lost a lot of shows in the last few years, irrespective of the pandemic. The X Factor, Take Me Out, Ninja Warrior, Alien Fun Capsule, Through The Keyhole and Supermarket Sweep weren't coming back.

[JAS84]

Ninja Warrior being cancelled makes no sense. There are NW event centers (where you can actually run the course) advertised on TV, and the repeats proved super popular. Surely COVID is the only reason it's not been put back into production?

[bfgarmy]

For streaming platforms, I guess it's about always having new content available so viewers don't 'run out of things to watch' and an easy way rather than actually producing more stuff is to spread what you have over a longer period.
In theory too it means people talk about your shows more and over a longer period than if every episode is released in one go.
It does seem to be more common these days - The Circle on Netflix releases 4 episodes at a time, The Boys on Amazon did weekly episodes for its most recent series and many Disney+ shows do weekly releases.

I think as long as there's a mix of formats then everyone's happy.

[Neil Jones]

For streaming platforms, I guess it's about always having new content available so viewers don't 'run out of things to watch' and an easy way rather than actually producing more stuff is to spread what you have over a longer period.

I think we're a long way past running out of things to watch, the various platforms between them have more (archive) content than anybody (with some sort of normal life schedule - eat, work, sleep, toilet, shower, domestics, etc) can already consume.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Is there not also an element of it getting more traction on social media, if there are conversations about it each time a new batch of episodes drops rather than a single occasion?

[Johnr]

If a show is good enough it will gain plenty of traction whether it is released in one go or not

Squid Game as a recent example has literally exploded from what could have initially become a niche Korean TV show (or even a 2 hour movie as originally planned) but is now being watched and talked about all over the world

That’s the power of Netflix I guess

[SuperSajuuk]

Ninja Warrior being cancelled makes no sense. There are NW event centers (where you can actually run the course) advertised on TV, and the repeats proved super popular. Surely COVID is the only reason it's not been put back into production?

I would agree with that. Ninja Warrior is too difficult to run under COVID rules, as they would probably have to sanitise all the surfaces that the contestants touch for the games they're playing, which would do nothing but slow down production. It wouldn't be worth the hassle for ITV to run the programme at the moment, but I don't see any reason to think that the programme was outright cancelled.

Same reason I'd argue a lot of "large contestant" type of programmes aren't running [such as 15-to-1] and why things like Beat the Chasers, Millionaire and the Cube can run easily, because they only need a tiny number of contestants per recording session (a single run for a contestant would most likely be covered over one day, so that keeps numbers down very easily, allowing them to also sanitise everything for the next recording), whereas Ninja Warrior would need at least 20-25 [maybe more] for all the ones they have to edit out because they did badly.

[XIII]

It's not true that shows with lots of contestants aren't being made, Pointless still have people return for multiple shows for example as do shows like Only Connect and UC.

[JAS84]

Pointless did reduce the number of contestants though, by changing the rules so you can play three games instead of just two.

[SuperSajuuk]

Pointless did reduce the number of contestants though, by changing the rules so you can play three games instead of just two.

This is a good rule change 'cause basically it means they can record a whole run with just a small number of contestants in the course of a day. In such a run, assume that the start is 4 brand new sets of contestants, all you need is 2 extra sets to cover the two who reach the final in each recording. So by the end of the day, all contestants have had 3 goes, then they can't come back. So yeah, as you say, they've changed the rules to be compliant with covid rules, allowing them to effectively sanitise the studio after each day to start each day with a near fresh set of players.

Anyway, I diverted the thread off-topic, so I'd better not write too much more on this in this thread.