Netflix May Put an End to its Classic Binge Model

At Netflix, hardly a stone will be left unturned in 2022: After losing users, again and again, its business model is being fundamentally revised. This means that not only are you planning an advertising subscription, but you could also bury the binge.

Netflix has revolutionized the television business because it didn’t make the retrieval of films and series at the push of a button socially acceptable, but also de facto invented binging. Because series episodes were not released week after week like in linear television, but all at once. If you want, you can watch the whole season of a series like Stranger Things in one weekend, even if it has just been released.

This usually applies to Netflix in-house productions, purchased “originals” such as Better Call Saul are already running week after week – because you have to stick to the US broadcast here. But Netflix has recently had major problems because the streaming market leader is running away from customers.

There are several reasons for this, including the competitive situation and the ever-increasing subscription costs. The latter also plays a role in binging: Because quite a few wait until enough series have accumulated, get a subscription for a month and then binge everything in this time.

The weekly model is certainly under consideration

Competitors like Disney+, Apple TV+, and Prime Video have never implemented the binge model, or (like Amazon) have switched to a model that starts with two or three episodes at a time and then releases the rest weekly. Recently, the Puck Newsletter (via colliders) that Netflix is ​​now also considering an end to the binge model and could or should switch to weekly publications.

Netflix has already taken a first small step in this direction because some of its own productions are now being released in two batches or halves. The benefit would be obvious for Netflix, as it could help retain subscribers over the long term. However, it is currently not clear how far advanced these considerations are. However, one can assume that these exist in the company. After all: Netflix already confirmed in the summer that the binge model will be retained for Season 5 of Stranger Things.