The long wait: TV streaming gaps cost viewers and profits says new Luminate report - The Huntington News
By Google News TV ·
After a long wait for a new season, many avid TV viewers know the feeling all too well: excitedly clicking into the new season of their favorite series and having no idea what happened in the season prior.
In August, Luminate, a data and entertainment industry insights company, published a report detailing release strategies for music and TV, which revealed a major decline in viewership because of long gaps between seasons of popular streaming series.
The report notes that a primary reason for the long gaps is the amount of time and work it takes to film, produce and edit the next season of a show. Elements including budget costs, special effects and meticulous editing make producing a series time-consuming.
“Production-wise, it takes a long time, especially for the higher-costing series that they’re making, like ‘Stranger Things,’” said Michelle Carr, a Northeastern communications professor. “[It costs] millions of dollars per episode, so they’re going to take their time. It’s not something that they can turn around.”
The Luminate report stated that fans want to see a quick turnaround between seasons of their favorite shows, which has proven difficult given these filming and post-production circumstances. As a result, Carr described the importance of a show’s stars and production team taking initiative to keep audiences up to speed between these large gaps.
“I think they definitely have an obligation to keep people informed of what’s going on, and a lot of it will fall on the actors, because it’s like, ‘Well, this is your livelihood,’” Carr said.
“For most of the series that I binge, I am following a lot of the stars and actors on socials, and they’ll always be like, ‘Oh, on set today’ or ‘Going in to do my dialogue replacement.’ And so you’re like, ‘Oh, [episodes] are coming out.’”
Cassidy Montgomery, a second-year international business major, describes how she felt waiting for the third season of “Euphoria.” The HBO Original released its first season in 2019 and released its third and final season this past April, after fans waited more than four years.
“I have to rewatch things. I [had] to do a recap because I forgot what happened, but I rave about it,” Montgomery said. “I was so excited.”
Recaps, as Montgomery stated, are videos that catch up viewers about what happened in previous seasons of their favorite shows, often by summarizing key plot points and events.
For others, however, waiting several years for a show to return doesn’t feel as worthwhile.
“I really liked ‘Bridgerton,’ [but] I feel like waiting [19 months] is crazy,” said Szasha Fazekas, a second-year international business major. “I definitely forgot what happened in the last season. It’s especially hard if it’s season four coming out and then you have to remember what happened in seasons one, two and three. I had to play a little catch up.”
According to Luminate’s report, “Bridgerton” season four saw a 20% decline in viewership from its last season release nearly two years earlier. Other shows also saw similar declines after long breaks between seasons, including “Wednesday” season two, which saw a 59% decline, and the final season of “Stranger Things,” which saw a 23% decline.
Despite this, several students said that online promotions about the series, especially on social media, helped remind them of upcoming new seasons for their favorite binges.
“‘The Boys’ specifically had special release media for the show where it was almost like you’re seeing…
Originally published by Google News TV
