Report: 71% of U.S. Adults Identify as Binge-Watchers; Will Other Streamers Adopt Netflix’s Flexible Release Model?
When Samba TV speaks, smart media executives listen. The television technology, analytics, and insights firm is one of the top market research companies in the business, and its semiannual “State of Viewership” report offers a host of fascinating data points on the current state of the TV market.
Its most recent report is certainly no exception. Among other findings, the 2022 State of Viewership report showed that most streaming users prefer to binge their shows. A full 71% of streaming video subscribers in the United States identify as binge-watchers, demonstrating yet another reason that Netflix can claim the most subscribers of any global streaming service.
Of course, not all of Netflix’s series are released all at once, nor is it the only service to use the binge model. Both Prime Video and Hulu occasionally drop all episodes of a series on the same day, but Netflix is by far the industry leader in these types of releases.
Could more services begin to adopt this method of releasing shows? The conventional wisdom is that streamers should follow the traditional TV model of releasing episodes weekly, but binge-releasing could be particularly beneficial for a service like Disney+, with its multitude of popular IPs. Dropping all episodes of new Marvel or Star Wars series at once could help the service attract new users, which it could retain with its library content.
There are still advantages to releasing shows weekly, such as keeping customers subscribed over a longer period of time in order to keep them watching a new show. But increasingly, data from analytics firms like Samba is showing the holes in this theory. More frequently, streaming services are seeing users subscribe for just one show, finishing it, and canceling their subscription in favor of another service.
This means that a weekly release model might keep customers around for as long as their chosen show is airing, but that they’re more likely to be lost when that show is over. Netflix sees the lowest rate of new subscribers signing up for just one show of any streaming service, which suggests that binge-releasing episodes helps retain users better than a weekly model. Of course, there are many other factors at play with this — not least of which that nearly every streaming customer in the U.S. already subscribes to Netflix — but it does appear to be a factor.
Dropping all episodes of a show at once is also more consistent with the viewing patterns of streaming video watchers. Samba’s data shows that three out of four streaming users who are interested in a particular show watch it within the first 15 days of its initial release. This suggests that while a weekly release model may keep users subscribed while the show is running, it might also run the risk of losing viewers along the way.
The exception to this rule is Netflix’s Addams Family spin-off “Wednesday.” That show saw its viewership continue to increase past its 40th day after release. Users were hesitant to adopt the show at first, but when word of mouth started to spread, the fact that all episodes were available helped Netflix capitalize on the building momentum for the show by hooking viewers in and keeping them engaged.
While the ability for people to binge-watch the show that long after it was released certainly aided in making it one of the streaming service’s biggest hits in recent memory, but the water-cooler nature of its growth could also make a case for the weekly release model as it gives people time to find a show and catch up as more and more people profess their love of it.
Every streaming company has different analytics at its disposal, and different goals for each title it releases. But with so many U.S. streaming users self-identifying as binge-watchers, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more services experiment with binge releases in the future.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.