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Disney+ and HBO Max Want to Kill Binge Watching
Both have decided bingeing isn’t good for business
Back in 2013, when Netflix released every episode of its first original series, House of Cards, at once, the move seemed like a no-brainer. Thanks to DVR and streaming services, tuning in at 8 p.m. on Monday or else missing out on the episode was already a thing of the past. So, why stick to an archaic, artificial release schedule instead of allowing subscribers to watch at their own pace?
Today, the answer to that question is clear: to make more money. Disney and HBO have demonstrated the business perks of releasing episodes one at a time on their streaming services with recent hit series The Mandalorian and Watchmen.
Both strategies — binge and one-at-a-time releasing — give viewers the freedom to watch a show when and how they want. Disney and HBO customers can still catch every episode already released — as long as they have a Disney+ subscription, that is.
But by releasing episodes one at a time, Disney and HBO give customers a reason to keep subscribing over time. Netflix viewers, on the other hand, can get through an entire season of their favorite show and unsubscribe before the weekend is over. Using free trials to get through new content and quit before paying anything is a strategy that works for Netflix, but for Disney and HBO, it would get customers through only a few episodes.
According to Netflix, around 64 million households — out of around 150 million subscribers at the time — had watched season three of Stranger Things within the first month of its July 4 release last year. But Netflix also lost U.S. subscribers that same quarter for the first time since 2011.
Losing subscribers was expected after the company hiked prices in May 2019. But search interest around the show ebbed in a similar manner. According to Google Trends, search traffic for Stranger Things spiked during the release week, but by the end of the month, interest had dropped back down to its prerelease levels and never reached its peak again. Meanwhile, Disney’s The Mandalorian saw less…
