Loss Of Viewership On Streaming Platforms Linked To Long Gaps Between TV Seasons

Image Source: The Playlist

One of the major complaints fans have with streaming platforms is the long gap between seasons of their favorite shows. Initially, this wasn’t a huge issue, but over time, many popular series have gone over a year between seasons, leaving fans frustrated. Data indicates that many of these fans have moved on by the time a new season drops. According to Luminate, long gaps between seasons of streaming series have become a deal-breaker for fans, leading to massive drops in viewership. Luminate’s data shows that extended hiatuses between seasons, sometimes longer than 1.5 years, lead to a decline in viewership due to a loss of emotional investment, excitement, and curiosity. Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power suffered a 57% drop in viewership following a gap of over two years between seasons. Even massively successful, established shows like Netflix’s Bridgerton experienced a 20% decline in viewership after a 1.75-year-long wait following Season 3. Netflix’s other sensation, Wednesday, suffered a steep 59% drop in viewership after a whopping 2.75-year wait after Season 1.

Although there are exceptions to this pattern, with shows like Stranger Things and Disney+’s The Mandalorian maintaining most of their viewership after long gaps between seasons, it is no guarantee that fans will stick around after they’ve had to wait years to find out what happens next. Streamers should feel pressure to roll out new seasons as quickly as possible, even if putting together a season takes a mammoth effort, including pre- and post-production work. Networks such as Netflix and Disney+ should rethink their release strategies or risk leaving fans disappointed and uninterested. Along with cinematic quality, networks also need to speed up production timelines and deliver annual returns of fans’ favorite shows. There’s also debate regarding whether dumping entire seasons online on the same day is better than uploading an episode a week. This strategy, which is how Disney+ rolls out all Star Wars and Marvel shows, seems to allow shows to remain in discussion longer, creating more anticipation. For now, it seems that waiting 2 years for a show that has just 8 episodes isn’t worth it for fans.

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Sources: Luminate, Discussing Film, The Playlist

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