Disney+ will deny binge culture, largely initiated by Netflix, by releasing their episodes on a weekly basis.
Before Netflix, people watched a show at its scheduled time, which likely had a cliffhanger, only to wait in suspense until the next episode aired. Netflix threw that culture in the bin and introduced binge. Now consumers can watch a TV show in one sitting without interruption. Many TV lovers wait for a show to release on Netflix so they can watch it without breaks or within their own time constraints.
Netflix even defended its strategy back in 2016 when chief content officer Ted Sarandos explained that culture was already moving toward binge TV with the usage of DVR. Disney+, as well as many other streaming services, will counter Netflix’s strategy by going back to the “good” old days.
It was surprising to find out that only one episode of Titans, provided by the DC Universe Streaming Service, was released each week. Hulu and Amazon also offer their new content on a weekly basis. Disney+, as announced at the D23 Expo, will follow this trend, going against the powerhouse – Netflix.
This strategy makes sense for Disney because many of their high profile shows like some of their Marvel and Star Wars projects will not release when the service becomes available on November 12. The Mandalorian, on the other hand, will be available when the service releases. The weekly releases will stop people from getting their subscription to binge The Mandalorian then canceling it. It’s simply a way for Disney to keep their subscriber base because they will not have enough content to keep people around otherwise.
Disney does not see this as a negative though. In fact, they take a lot of pride in it, according to a statement from the President of Streaming Services at Disney Michael Paull to The Verge. Paull says that their content strategy is about quality over quantity. It looks like Disney is expecting their shows to be so groundbreaking that they can merit a weekly release. It might very well bring back that old sense of weekly anticipation before Netflix introduced the binge.
Are you a fan of weekly releases or binge-worthy releases? Let us know in the comments.
