Binge or Weekly? Here’s the Best Way for Streamers to Release Shows

To drop all at once or release weekly?

That is the question that continues to plague some streaming services. However, according to a new study from Fandom, there’s no simple answer or one-size-fits-all approach to figuring out which type of model works best for each streaming platform.

However, several indicators may help guide the way for future streamer releases.

Fandom, the wiki hosting service that features wikis focused on entertainment, conducted its recent study to understand better how binge, weekly, and two-part releases impact viewer visitation and engagement by analyzing fan engagement across its platform.

The research pulls from FanDNA, Fandom’s first-party platform data, which provides research and consumer insights about entertainment and gaming, powered by the platform’s audience of 350 million global users.

Stephanie Fried, chief marketing officer of Fandom, said the company spends a lot of time using the data to understand what fans are doing overall.

“We have estimates for how much traffic we think is going to be created from new seasons and series of shows—and when things are above or below those estimates, we dig in to see why,” Fried told ADWEEK. “We look at the concepts they were based on. In some ways, it’s similar to how we used to do TV show ratings estimates.”

According to the Fandom study, weekly drops are more effective for both spikes in fan engagement during the release window and maintaining that engagement post-season finale. Weekly drops outpaced bingeable releases in terms of fan engagement, per Fandom’s data.

The data found that Prime Video’s Invincible, which aired its first season in March 2021 and released episodes weekly, increased 23 times above its traffic benchmark, while Netflix’s live-action Avatar series, which was released all at once in February 2022, only increased 7 times above its benchmark.

HBO’s second season of The Gilded Age, which first aired in March 2021 and released episodes weekly, rose 15 times above its benchmark during the time it aired from October 2023 to December 2023, whereas the second season of Netflix’s Young Royals, which had a binge model and premiered in November 2022, only increased 6 times.

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.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s Bridgerton, which was released on a binge model, built a significant fanbase with rapid initial viewership growth. In its second season, it achieved a 15-times trend growth above the traffic benchmark. When it shifted to a split two-part release strategy for the third season, it had 5 times the trend growth compared to the second season.

HBO’s House of the Dragon, which did weekly drops, led to a sustained viewership and engagement, highlighting the strength of the weekly release for maintaining fan interest over time. In the first season, the weekly release strategy led to high engagement with an 18-week post-season trend, while the second season, which just ended this month, showcased an initial two-times trend growth compared to the 1.5 times growth in the first season.

Finally, Hulu’s The Bear utilized the binge-release strategy for all three seasons with its highest engagement seen in the second season. All eight episodes of the first season that were released at once led to 18 times above the traffic benchmark, while the second season achieved another 18 times above the traffic benchmark. However, the third season saw a drop, ending up with 4 times the trend growth.

Fried said the second season of a series tends to be the strongest-performing season across all shows.

“That makes Season 2 even better because [The Bear] maintained that—and I’m assuming the baseline after season one was much higher because that show got really good word-of-mouth, so there was a steadier viewing that was happening between the seasons,” Fried said. “By the start of Season 2, the trend line was at a higher place. So to go 18 times is particularly impressive, although the show gained a lot of momentum with the Emmy nominations and things like that.”

Fried said that the drop in the third season could be related to the timing of the release or the promotion. She added that it doesn’t hurt for Hulu to experiment for the fourth season.

“Maybe the model is something that [Hulu] can play around with,” Fried said. “So maybe they try a weekly release or they try a binge release and see if that might get more conversation going.”

The third season of The Bear was mostly divided among fans, and many debated whether dropping the episodes all at once or every week would make more sense.

Fried said streaming services should benchmark their show release strategies to ultimately decide which strategy works best for them.

“They should always be analyzing how similar shows were dropped in terms of the scheduling to make sure they’re choosing the right model,” Fried said. “It’s a very important part of strategic planning for how they release a show—similar to what marketing they’re going to put behind it—is how they’re going to release it because it can have a serious impact on how many viewers and fans return to that show.”