Faced with competition like Disney+, Netflix is struggling to maintain itself as the king of streaming. The platform is therefore looking for solutions to retain its subscribers, and one of them could consist of the end of the famous binge watching.
Competition is tough for Netflix right now. The platform faces competition from other VOD platforms, such as Disney+ and Amazone Prime Video. Because of this, the number of subscribers is no longer growing as quickly and the streaming king is struggling to retain his subscribers. Between January and April 2022 alone, Netflix suffered 200,000 unsubscribes. However, the platform has many assets, such as its big hit series The Bridgeton Chronicles and Stranger Thingsbut that does not seem to be enough.
Netflix: a change in binge watching policy?
To react, Netflix could well change its famous policy of binge watching, which consists of linking all the episodes of a series without stopping. Peter Csathy, founder of a consulting firm dedicated to the media, explains to CNBC why this format had been so successful at the time. Indeed, the platform broadcasts its series season by season, which has made it possible to break with the television model, where viewers must wait at least a week to be able to watch a new episode. It is through this break that Netflix has managed to impose itself and seduce its audience.
However, this technique also has its drawbacks, since you have to wait a long time to have the rest of your favorite series. Three years passed between season 3 and season 4 of Stranger Things ! If the series is talked about a lot with each return, it returns to the shadows once the subscriber has devoured the episodes one after the other. This is a radically different technique from that adopted by Disney++, which adds a new episode every week, as for its new series Miss Marvel. A way to retain its subscribers if they want to know the rest of the adventures of their favorite heroes.
To continue to make profits, Netflix regularly raises its prices and plans to integrate games into its catalog. A new business model that will end the sharing of accounts between family and friends, or even include advertisements. However, Peter Friedlander, head of scripted series for Netflix for the United States and Canada, wants to be reassuring with Variety. “JI think changing the pace might disappoint manyhe says. To deny the subscriber what he expects would be too brutal. We want to leave the choice to our subscribers as to the pace at which they want to watch their series.“