You know the conversation. You are your friends offer each other shows and “movies” you are liking on your streaming apps and then try to figure out which app they are on and when. I decided to try to lay out the full picture of how all this is working - and not working - for the streamers and started down the road of research. But what I quickly realized is that it’s really a story of what I would consider the Top 8 streamers (Netflix/Disney+/Hulu/HBO Max/Amazon Prime/AppleTV+/Paramount+/Peacock and that none of them do it quite the same way, sometimes showing varied strategies within individual streamers.
They're actually more interesting than that. Just to look at the shows that I've been following: The last seasons of Hanna and Undone dropped all their episodes at once. But the last season of The Expanse (easily one of their best shows, and they know it) was just one episode per week. The Wheel of Time and the last season of The Boys had two or three episodes at first and then went to one episode per week. Outer Range and the last season of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel released two episodes per week, every week.
A part of me likes the variability. I also find it kind of maddening that it's not always clear in advance what sort of release schedule they're going to follow. Shows like The Expanse, I will absolutely follow week-to-week as new episodes come out. Other shows -- particularly new shows that haven't built a rep yet -- I'll put off until I can binge them. (I just started Outer Range today, because the final episodes are coming out on Friday, so I know they'll be waiting for me by the time I've caught up with the first six episodes.)
If you like to plan your TV viewing in advance, and if you sometimes put off starting a show until you know you can watch the whole thing uninterrupted, it would definitely help if streaming services were more explicit about their release plans.
HBO Max has been sending me sporadic emails alerting me to when something new drops on their service. It helps, but I agree with you 100%. I keep forgetting that something new is available, like Amazon's Upload series. Dropped last week and I keep forgetting to watch it when the time comes to make a decision.
THB #128: How We Stream
thank you. that describes it. streaming is a long way from maturity. I would stream more if it wasn't so disjointed.
"Amazon drops full seasons. Like Netflix."
They're actually more interesting than that. Just to look at the shows that I've been following: The last seasons of Hanna and Undone dropped all their episodes at once. But the last season of The Expanse (easily one of their best shows, and they know it) was just one episode per week. The Wheel of Time and the last season of The Boys had two or three episodes at first and then went to one episode per week. Outer Range and the last season of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel released two episodes per week, every week.
A part of me likes the variability. I also find it kind of maddening that it's not always clear in advance what sort of release schedule they're going to follow. Shows like The Expanse, I will absolutely follow week-to-week as new episodes come out. Other shows -- particularly new shows that haven't built a rep yet -- I'll put off until I can binge them. (I just started Outer Range today, because the final episodes are coming out on Friday, so I know they'll be waiting for me by the time I've caught up with the first six episodes.)
If you like to plan your TV viewing in advance, and if you sometimes put off starting a show until you know you can watch the whole thing uninterrupted, it would definitely help if streaming services were more explicit about their release plans.
HBO Max has been sending me sporadic emails alerting me to when something new drops on their service. It helps, but I agree with you 100%. I keep forgetting that something new is available, like Amazon's Upload series. Dropped last week and I keep forgetting to watch it when the time comes to make a decision.