When it comes to streaming series, there’s generally been two approaches adopted – the binge model with an entire season released at once, and the more traditional pre-streaming weekly episode release model.
We’ve seen others try some hybrid models too – some like Apple TV+ and Amazon release several episodes initially and then drip feed the rest weekly. Others have done the ‘split season’ approach – releasing half the episodes in one batch, and half in the other a few weeks or even months later.
Netflix, who pioneered the binge model approach, has tried that split approach for several years now with a handful of its biggest titles each year. The hope was that by splitting the season, it would result in potentially more viewership and less subscription churn.
However, a new study over at THR has revealed that the results have been mixed at best. The trade took a number of shows and compared the viewership of their last full binge release season compared with the total viewership of their subsequent split seasons.
The results indicate that, with one or two small exceptions, the combined viewership numbers of the split seasons are falling behind those of the full seasons prior. “The Crown,” “Emily in Paris,” “The Witcher” and “You” all saw drops, some significant, in total million hours of viewing worldwide. The one exception was “Bridgerton” which saw a small uptick.
One element the split season approach does help with is that the show stay longer in Netflix’s top 10 rankings than their binge releases.
The recent splitting of the fourth season of “Outer Banks” riled up that show’s fanbase, angry over the split, and that has seemingly reflected in the numbers. The new season’s first half debuted in early October to 62.3 million hours of viewing in seven days – 60% less than the opening week for season three at just under 155 million hours.
The second half of that show’s run has only a week of viewing data but stands at just under 200 million hours of viewing so far since early October – behind the 341.4 million over the same span for season three.
