Additionally, weekly shows sustain fan engagement 50 percent longer after the credits roll compared with binge drops.
Shows like Paramount+’s Halo, the first season of House of the Dragon, and the second season of Invincible trended 23 weeks post-finale, 18 weeks post-finale, and 17 weeks post-finale, respectively.
Meanwhile, of the 14 binge model shows that Fandom analyzed, only the fourth season of Stranger Things and the final season of Ozark exceeded fan engagement by 15 weeks post-release.
When to go on a binge
For more familiar intellectual property or established series like Stranger Things and Bridgerton, which have a strong monoculture and fan base around them, binge-model releases allow the opportunity for completion over a weekend.
However, the Fandom study notes that newer franchises benefit more from weekly releases since it allows time for fanbase growth through word-of-mouth and earned media tactics.
The research also looked at the recent two-part binge model that Netflix has been exploring with shows like You, Stranger Things, and Bridgerton. The research showed that binge releases maintained higher engagement between parts, with mid-season averages five times the pre-season baselines.
Still, Fried said streaming services should be careful when experimenting with that type of two-part binge model strategy.
“It’s one thing to know that every Wednesday, your show is coming back,” Fried said. “It’s another thing to be like, ‘When is this coming back again?’ All of a sudden, you’re out of it, and you forget parts of it. It’s almost like when you go season-to-season and you have to refresh yourself. A lot of people come back to Fandom to remember what happened two years ago.”
She added that the decision depends on a variety of factors, including what type of show it is or whether it’s an already popular show or a new one.
“It depends on the goals of the streamer. For streamers that have less content, each piece of content they have—especially the big shows—they need to keep people around for longer,” Fried said. “Netflix doesn’t have to do that as much because people are much less likely to cancel anyway. So they’re able to just kind of give people what they want all at once and let them binge.”
Different strategies can still bring results
In the second part of the study, Fandom looked at four shows and the impact of different release strategies on viewership and engagement.
Fandom found that for Prime Video’s The Boys, the consistency of weekly releases enhanced sustained engagement and a gradual increase in viewership, highlighting the strength of the weekly model for the series. The first season led to a strong initial fanbase with significant word-of-mouth growth, while the second season saw 19 times growth while sticking to the same weekly release schedule. For the third season, the show continued with weekly releases resulting in 12-times trend growth above its traffic benchmark and trending 19 weeks after its final episode.
For the fourth season, which released its last episode on July 18, it maintained weekly premieres and achieved eight times growth above its benchmark and trended 19 weeks after its final episode.