Television isn’t what it used to be, and that might not be a bad thing, but is it a good thing?
As we’ve all seen over the years, the entertainment world has faced a large shift in its ratings. Traditional TV ratings have dropped in favor of the skyrocketing numbers of streaming services. So, is TV dying? Or is it undergoing a much-needed revival?
For decades, traditional broadcast and cable TV shaped our viewing habits. Thursday nights had lineups we planned our evenings around. But times changed.
What worked during this time was that these shows were released weekly and that turned these shows into cultural events; think Friends, The Office, and Game of Thrones. Viewers were given an entire week to fully digest each episode which fueled fan theories and allowed for the suspense of the next episode. The premiere and finale of a new show or season felt like a national event.
What didn’t work for them was that if you missed an episode and didn’t record it, tough luck. For 25-30 minute episodes, viewers also thought that there were too many ads, which disrupted their immersion in the program, which you could argue is the same in today’s viewing experience.
Streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Max turned TV into an on-demand experience. Bingeing became the norm. Release day became entire season day.
What’s working for them is that as a consumer you can pause, rewind, or devour 10 episodes in a night. Streaming platforms that started to produce their own original shows allowed for edgier, more diverse storytelling. The ad breaks of the streaming services are mostly bearable, but there is always the option to pay a few extra dollars for no ads.
On the other side of the coin is that people feel like it’s a bit of a choice overload with how much content there is to pick from, it can become exhausting to the point you end up turning the TV off. With the amount of streaming services available all of them are on their own schedule now. If they put out a show there isn’t a guarantee it will be renewed for a new season. Most shows in the traditional era seemed like they were guaranteed to have at least two to three seasons.
Here’s where things get interesting. At the heart of the streaming revolution is one major format shift: episode release strategy.
Should platforms drop all episodes at once? Or release them week by week like the old days?
Popularized by Netflix, the binge model lets users consume an entire season the moment it drops. There’s an instant cultural impact made by some shows. Dropping them all on one day also keeps strong narrative momentum. Though most of the bingeable shows have a short-lived hype and vanish from the conversation after a couple of weeks. There are fewer opportunities for fan engagement and theories, and the risk of burnout from storylines.
Services like HBO Max and Disney+ have revived the weekly model, and audiences are paying attention. There’s a revival of the suspense and fan loyalty from shows encouraging conversation, memes, and theories; think The Summer I Turned Pretty and Euphoria. Services are able to keep their audiences subscribed for longer this way, though if the first few episodes don’t hook people there’s a risk of an early drop-off of viewership.
So maybe TV isn’t dying, it’s just evolving? While traditional networks may be fading, streaming platforms are breathing new life into serialized storytelling. More platforms are blending both models: releasing a few episodes up front, then moving to a weekly schedule. Why? It balances instant gratification with long-term engagement.
Whether you’re a binge-watcher or a week-by-week die hard, there’s something for everyone. In this new era, the question isn’t whether TV is dying, but rather: What kind of TV experience do we want, and who gets to decide?