There’s no doubt that the bulk of a modern media diet comes from streaming – whether that’s BBC iPlayer, a pay-per-view sports match, or a subscription service such as Netflix. However, as the flood of streaming services and options continues to overwhelm our mediascape, there comes new issues.
Back in the 80s and 90s, there existed a “watercooler effect” – so named as this is where those in a workplace would gather to chat – when television shows would release weekly. For example, Twin Peaks and its “who killed Laura Palmer?” mystery was widely speculated upon and led to a cultural phenomenon, with TV stations even polling viewers on who they thought the killer was. Now, seasons are often released all at once. Netflix and Prime are often guilty of this. Although, it must be noted, that some shows such as Apple TV’s Severance still follow a weekly release schedule and this has led to fans going on social media like Reddit and TIktok to discuss their theories. If more shows followed this traditional schedule, they would persist in the cultural mind for longer and leave a bigger mark on audiences.
Critics of a weekly release schedule may refer to the fact that streaming services often use it to incentivize viewers to stick with them over a period of months while the season is ‘airing’, and that’s a valid viewpoint. Releasing seasons in two-parts has become a more common practice too – Stranger Things Season 4 released seven episodes in May 2022 and then the last two on July 1st. So if viewers were wanting to subscribe, they would have to keep their subscription running for an extra month just to catch two episodes.
Stranger Things is also an example of another major problem of the streaming era – huge gaps between season’s. Season 5 is currently scheduled to release this year, 2025, 3 years after the last one, and other shows, like Netflix’s Heartstopper have no confirmed release dates for their next seasons. This is a world apart from the tight release schedules of TV in the 90s and 2000s where shows like Supernatural would air a 22-episode season every year, compared to what we get now; usually 8-12 episodes with a 2-3 (or more) year wait. Viewers may get tired waiting for shows and forget about them, or may jump ship to a show with a more consistent release pattern.
Television is now more accessible to the masses than ever before, and there’s a variety of services providing top-tier content for all interest and budgets, but with that comes new challenges which service providers and media bosses may want to tackle before audiences become dissatisfied.
Featured Image Credit: Apple TV
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