00:00Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're examining the cultural and industrial effects on TV shows
00:13made for constant streaming, and whether they're a good thing in the long term.
00:24What's the hold up?
00:25Everyone was talking about Netflix's Stranger Things long after the entire first season dropped at once in 2016.
00:32Nine years later, there's not much hype about the final season, largely because it's only the fifth.
00:38Relax, for goodness sake.
00:40I'm enraged, they should be answering.
00:42You've been away a whole month, honeybun. Maybe they just forgot.
00:46This comes in the wake of Netflix releasing the second season of Wednesday after a troubled three-year hiatus.
00:51The decision to split this season into two parts, and the final installment of Stranger Things into three,
00:57is a testament to the streaming giant's continued reliance on binge-watching.
01:02But does the audience and the industry still have faith in this ritual?
01:05Guide us to truth through night and morn. To this, let our powers be sworn.
01:12I didn't drive all this way to hold hands in the dark. How long do we have to keep this up?
01:15Mama, for once, just be quiet.
01:17Overburdened production slates and diminishing returns, both creative and financial,
01:23have pronounced the perils in releasing major TV productions without momentum in the feedback.
01:28The scattered demographic targeting has further compromised faith that studios are investing in the best product possible.
01:35Many say that the content bubble has burst, and appointment television is making a comeback.
01:40But how was binge-watching ever such a phenomenon?
01:43Obviously, for you adults, you ladies, a lot of you all-girl group have gotten together to binge tonight,
01:49which seems fine to me. I do have a problem, though.
01:52The marathon mentality.
01:54Since their breakthrough in the 1970s, marathons have turned TV from a ritual into a way of life.
02:00The old myth is that consumers are never more relaxed than when they're watching their favorite show for hours on end.
02:06So good! How is it so good?
02:10What time is it?
02:11It's like daylight already. How did that even happen?
02:14We just stayed up all night.
02:16With home video giving them agency in when to watch,
02:19while premium cable eliminated commercial interruption,
02:22the activity became more about the shows themselves.
02:25Finally, in 2013, Netflix began releasing whole seasons of original programming
02:30to give subscribers the option to make their own schedule or watch all at once.
02:35Will you take it easy for me, please?
02:37Oh, who, me?
02:38Um, you know what? I really wish I could.
02:40But I have a really intense Netflix binge that I have scheduled way back,
02:44and I also am going to eat everything in the fridge, so it's going to get pretty crazy in here.
02:48Competitors like Amazon Prime Video and Hulu soon capitalized on the phenomenon crudely dubbed binge-watching.
02:55In 2017, a survey by Deloitte suggested that over 70% of Americans regularly streamed personalized marathons.
03:03Many believed the success of this format was in the dependable quality of streaming shows with big budgets and bigger talent.
03:11The industry apparently thought it was a matter of generating buzz by any gamble necessary.
03:15I think they've done studies.
03:18A guy told me about it at CrossFit.
03:23The content bubble.
03:25Binge-watching inevitably limited shows' long-term hype and promoted the practice of subscribing to services
03:31only for as long as it takes them to watch particular content.
03:34Cancel everything.
03:36What?
03:36See what you can't live without, then just re-subscribe to those apps.
03:40Okay.
03:40Oh, that's good.
03:41By the end of the 2010s, Netflix was unfortunately pioneering the model of greenlighting and renewing
03:47as many productions as it could, while continuing to drop TV seasons all at once.
03:52This meant that shows were viciously competing for viewership, even on the same platform.
03:57Moreover, shows like Master of None and Stranger Things were starting to take longer hiatuses due to creative pressure
04:18or the studios' overload production slates.
04:21The prioritization of meme-oriented entertainment and ambitious prestige projects permeated the streaming industry,
04:28forcing traditional networks to invest more in that format.
04:31A show's success was still becoming less and less guaranteed.
04:35Binge-watching then saw a resurgence under unfortunate circumstances going into the 2020s.
04:41What are we going to do?
04:42There's no need for your hysterics.
04:44Why is Miss Thompson to be kept away?
04:46Because her condition is catching.
04:49The Quarantine Boom
04:50From 2020 to 23, the COVID-19 pandemic put the whole world on lockdown.
04:56With nothing else to do, more people than ever took up binge-watching.
05:00The first year alone saw a 16% increase in streaming time and a 26% increase in subscriptions.
05:08Nonetheless, quarantine's devastating impact on the entertainment industry further delayed productions.
05:14I'm accustomed to a certain level of failure.
05:20It's just that when a project usually goes wrong, I know exactly what happened.
05:26And it's usually me getting in my own way or me not listening to other people.
05:30But with Glow, I have no idea.
05:34Acclaimed shows like Netflix's Glow were canceled due to long projected hiatuses,
05:39yet blockbuster series pushed forward.
05:42The irony, though, is that library shows tended to outperform new releases.
05:46You know what this is?
05:47This is us getting ready for the prom.
05:49You know what?
05:50You guys, we don't have to watch this.
05:52Yeah, it's fun!
05:53It's fun!
05:55Subscribers seemed more interested in binge-watching Friends and The Sopranos than a massive back
06:00catalogue of streaming shows.
06:02The industry took this to mean that they should invest more in reboots and legacy sequels,
06:06as if new shows' hiatuses weren't long enough.
06:09Audiences merely craved comfort in difficult times.
06:13They would have different reasons for being nostalgic about older ways to watch TV.
06:17Sitting in this room, we can still feel the pleasure of that connection.
06:23Because I realize now, we were starved for it.
06:27We really were.
06:29A change in direction.
06:30Or not?
06:31Several streamers wised up to consumers' fatigue and schemes to unsubscribe after binging.
06:37Later seasons of shows like Amazon's The Boys, as well as entire platforms like Hulu and Apple TV+,
06:43embraced weekly releases of episodes.
06:45And week after week, audiences tuned in.
06:49Should we all take naps so we can stay up later?
06:51No!
06:52We pushed through and we all meet in the lobby, 5 o'clock sharp.
06:54Yeah!
06:55Meanwhile, big-budget Netflix projects like Jupiter's Legacy and Cowboy Bebop were cancelled
07:00after a single binge-format season, despite signs of warming critical reception.
07:06But The Bear has proven to be a major hit with FX on Hulu, serving it by the season.
07:12Why?
07:12Because each season has been acclaimed and reliably dropped in June every year.
07:17The best offenses have the ability to reset and adapt on a dime.
07:23Book?
07:24Book, yeah.
07:26We can do that, though.
07:29We have to.
07:30Netflix has at least adapted to releasing blockbuster seasons and sections.
07:34But that may not be enough.
07:36The end of quarantine shifted the streaming wars to matters of quantity or quality,
07:41punctual productions, and consumers' long-term investment.
07:45So this was your existential angst?
07:48Or were you just trying to have it all?
07:51That is so American.
07:52Audience fatigue.
07:54Studies suggest that the popularity of TV marathons is rooted in escapism and familiarity with the show.
08:00But binge-watching has turned out to be a very different practice, with harmful long-term effects.
08:06Beth?
08:10Are you in there?
08:13I've been calling.
08:16Are you okay?
08:17Keeping up with new shows has been linked to social isolation and negative impacts on mental and physical health.
08:24Psychology Today has even reported negative effects on memory retention and overall enjoyment of TV consumption.
08:32I can't remember everything.
08:33Everybody forgets stuff.
08:35Yeah, but shouldn't I know the name of the project I was working on last week?
08:38The growing excess in content and season hiatuses don't exactly help audiences' engagement.
08:44What used to be too much of a good thing is now seen by many as a chore in trying to find entertainment that's worth their time.
08:51There is another key statistic to remember.
08:53With rising subscription costs and declining quality among too many original programs,
08:592022 saw Netflix's first profit loss since the early days of binge-watching.
09:04Netflix blaming more competition, illegal password sharing, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
09:10The company ended the first quarter with 200,000 fewer subscribers than the end of last year.
09:16An industry in crisis.
09:17The streaming wars haven't just taken their toll on consumers.
09:21Studios have spent billions to boost a market that is still statistically less profitable than traditional television.
09:28My lord, that would require a workforce greater than any ever assembled, yes.
09:33The High King cannot provide one, so he has sent me you instead.
09:38Meanwhile, production costs have skyrocketed over competition that includes friendly fire,
09:44due to the drastic expansion of production slates.
09:47Part of the folly is in a growing dependency on flawed algorithms to assess market trends,
09:52diluting the quality of programming.
09:55Pam has a 27 percent!
09:58But the right verticals are watching.
10:00Taste clusters exploding.
10:02Yeah, you know, I've been doing this for 30 years.
10:05And if there's anything I've learned, it's nobody knows anything except the algorithm.
10:12What's worse is that these business models increased pressure on overworked, underpaid film crews.
10:19In 2023, multiple unions in the American entertainment industry went on strike in response to unfair conditions and industry shifts.
10:28The lingering effects of the binge trend on streaming and other industries look rather bleak.
10:33But has the trend really died out?
10:35I'm sorry, Leela.
10:37I'll never be able to watch enough TV to make you proud of me.
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10:56The Bubble Burst
10:57There was talk in 2019 of the content bubble bursting.
11:01Streaming's resurgence in 2020 apparently just labored that process across the decade.
11:07The overabundance and rising subscription costs of streaming services have eliminated their value as an affordable alternative to cable.
11:15But firmly they compare us to say goodbye to you.
11:22A 2025 study by Coupon Cabin found that 22% of cord cutters have returned to traditional television.
11:30Internet-based cable substitutes and live stream features are also becoming more popular.
11:36In order to keep up, on-demand platforms are becoming pickier about original programming with the potential for long-term quality and marketability.
11:44There are still plenty of shows worthy of marathon viewing, at least in moderation.
11:49Despite an early viewership decline, Wednesday's second season is still a hit in two parts.
11:54And no matter how long fans had to wait, the final season of Stranger Things is sure to be a blockbuster event.
12:01Or three.
12:02But everything that made streaming all day so satisfying has been undermined by fatigue among consumers and in the industry itself.
12:10Whether the inevitable reformatting will steer closer to the old ways or invent a new tradition, we're here to watch responsibly.
12:17You weren't in the suit?
12:19What?
12:20No, I got out of that thing like two days ago.
12:23I decided to catch up on my reading.
12:24What's your take on the state of the streaming era?
12:27What are your own viewing habits?
12:29Plug into the comments below.
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