![Jordan Claire Robbins as Grace in episode 307 of Netflix TV show The Umbrella Academy](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fFMcth8ZW7qkWyyx3Lh5TR-415-80.jpg)
Could "Netflix and chill" become "Netflix and see you next Wednesday"? According to new reports, Netflix is thinking the unthinkable and considering bringing an end to its binge-watching release strategy.
Netflix is the only major streaming service with a "release everything at once" strategy, and it's apparently considering changing that to reduce subscriber churn and freeloading: if a series is being released weekly, you can't binge it in one go and kill your subscription again.
I know what you're thinking. What next? Going back to sending DVDs through the post? But the move isn't as much of a throwback as it sounds. Netflix apparently intends to keep the binge-watch option available once every episode has aired.
Well, that's according to a new profile of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings in Puck, which says that Hastings didn't want an end to all-at-once releasing "[but] now, it appears, he does".
Would Netflix be better off without bingeing?
According to entertainment industry legend Bob Lefsetz, it wouldn't. "This is how the music business got in trouble, by ignoring its customers in search of an ever-growing bottom line," he writes in his newsletter. He's got a point. You've heard endless tales of Netflix cancelling great new shows because they don't produce significant numbers out of the gate, with even the brilliant The Sandman series far from certain to get a second airing. And moving to weekly episodes isn't something any of us have been demanding; it's purely for Netflix's benefit.
The current streaming market certainly looks very different from its early years, when we were promised something completely different from the cable TV bundling of old: as Lefsetz writes, "Maybe you’re not paying attention to streaming, but it’s a very dark path these companies are going down. Producing less content for more money as they add ads and come to resemble the TV networks of yore, while charging more."
I hope Netflix doesn't go down the timed-release route: it's already the most expensive streaming service I subscribe to, and being able to binge-watch new shows is one of the best things about it. I don't mind Apple TV+'s slower releases because it's less than a third of the cost, but a Netflix that keeps making its offering worse while charging ever higher prices doesn't seem sustainable to me. The only likely beneficiaries of a move to staggered releases are the pirate sites. As Lefsetz writes, "in the digital world, in the Internet world, you give the people what they want or you die."
Upgrade to smarter living
Get the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products straight to your inbox.
Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).
-
Amazon Prime Video's next big sci-fi spy thriller gets action-packed teaser
Citadel: Diana looks like sleek fun
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
New Netflix horror series coming from the twisted minds behind Stranger Things
The Duffer Brothers sign up for some more streaming shocks
By Rik Henderson Published
-
A Disney+ show just received the most Emmy nominations ever – watch it now
The Bear's stressful second season has been a hit with the Emmys
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Netflix's new no.1 brings two Oscar-winners back together – and fans love it
Ticket to Paradise has Clooney and Roberts – but also a mixed reputation
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Squid Game fans will soon be able to compete against each other for free
Netflix is going big for the new season
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Your affordable Netflix subscription could soon be scrapped
It's time to choose a new plan
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Netflix shows teaser for its biggest-ever show, before it even wraps shooting!
Stranger Things 5 is going to be huge
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
PS5 owners get Apple TV+ for free – no stings attached
This handy free trial returns
By Max Freeman-Mills Published