We know how important it is to be able to binge-watch our favorite shows. No longer do we have to wait an entire week to see what happens next. We can lock ourselves in our apartments, glue ourselves to the sofa with Seamless delivery service ready to go, and ignore everything (and everyone) from the real world that could penetrate our perfect Netflix bubble.
And with the amount of high-quality original shows on the streaming platform, how can we resist spending an entire weekend watching Frank Underwood rise to power or Piper Chapman get herself into some more trouble?
Releasing entire episodes of brand-new seasons may be a model that is loved by viewers, but is it a model that helps or hurts show creators as the try to reel in their audience?
According to a recent study conducted by Netflix, the streaming service was able to find out when viewers get hooked on a series—and the answers may surprise you.
Netflix analyzed its global streaming data across inaugural seasons of the most popular shows out right now that included both Netflix original series and shows on other networks between January to July 2015 across 16 marketing regions, including the U.S. and Australia, to determine at what point viewers get hooked on a particular show.
While many may think a strong pilot episode is enough to keep viewers coming back for more, the streaming platform found that its actually not enough to cause the viewer to decide to watch the entire season.
Still, people tend to get hooked on a series early on. The company found that people became loyal to a show anywhere as early as the second episode to as late as the eighth.
For example, Bates Motel, Breaking Bad, Scandal, Sons of Anarchy, Suits, The Killing, and The Walking Dead all had fans who were hooked by episode 2.
The series Dexter, Gossip Girl, House of Cards, Marco Polo, Orange is the New Black and Sense8 had people committed to finishing Season 1 by episode 3, and Bloodline, Grace & Frankie, Pretty Little Liars and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt from episode 4.
It wasn't until episode 8 for Arrow and How I Met Your Mother to gain its loyal season 1 fans, though.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGE REVEALS SPOILERS!
The company found that 70 percent of viewers who watched the "hooked" episode would go on to complete watching season 1 or more of that series.
Netflix's point on the study is that a strong pilot episode is not enough to really hook a large fan base. It takes some people a few episodes to became excited about watching a series, so releasing episodes one at a time may not be a smart move. Viewers might grow to really like a show if they have the ability to watch more than one episode in a sitting so they can better decide if it's worth continuing.
"Given the precious nature of prime time slots on traditional TV, a series pilot is arguably the most important point in the life of the show," Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, said in a statement. "However, in our research of more than 20 shows across 16 markets, we found that no one was ever hooked on the pilot. This gives us confidence that giving our members all episodes at once is more aligned with how fans are made."
Then again, the data does not reveal any trends or viewership numbers when people watch a series weekly. The study is only looking at the episode that causes fandom to begin.
The study also revealed other interesting trends. "The Dutch, for instance, tend to fall in love with series the fastest, getting hooked one episode ahead of most countries irrespective of the show," the study showed. Germans were early fans of Arrow; and France fell for How I Met Your Mother early on. Viewers in Australia and New Zealand committed to shows one to two episodes later than the rest of the world in almost every show Netflix included in the study.
Via: Netflix
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