Can you believe we waited nearly four years for Stranger Things 5? For some of us, long waits between seasons have been the norm all our lives. But others recall those halcyon days when TV series returned to our screens like clockwork every September. That’s right, there was no more than a brief summer hiatus dividing seasons of TV for a really long time. Granted, TV told much less elaborate and well-plotted stories at the time. But there must be a happy medium between the long waits between seasons we experience now and the quality of a show. In any case, a new report reveals what we already know. Long breaks between seasons of a TV series can kill its audience.
As part of its 18-page report on “Best Practices for Launching Albums and Series in a Crowded Marketplace,” Luminate Intelligence offers some measured data for the obvious. And concludes that “Long breaks between seasons usually lead to audience shrinkage for hit series.” We’d say, “duh,” but studios don’t seem to have understood this arithmetic since we’re still looking at a minimum of a two-year gap between seasons of most TV shows.
Long Breaks Between Seasons Mean TV Audience Dropoff
Luminate reports that Stranger Things Season 5 saw a 23% audience drop after its 3.5 years hiatus. Wednesday season 2 saw a 59% audience drop after its 2.75 year hiatus. And The Rings of Power season 2 saw a 57% audience drop after its 2 year hiatus, among other examples. Of course, we don’t know exactly what other variables are at work. But we WOULD love to see shorter TV season gaps, and we definitely see the connection.
Overall, Luminate concludes, “Lengthy gaps between seasons of TV have been a persistent headache for streamers, with the annual premieres once met even by blockbuster cable series like Game of Thrones no longer standard procedure. And while megahits such as Stranger Things can still return after multiyear breaks to massive viewership, a long hiatus (more than 1.5 years) for streaming series typically leads to a reduced audience, at least in the U.S. market. Average views dropped for every title in a sampling of recent hits — even Stranger Things, down nearly 25% in its final season. Streamers no doubt have a vested interest in speeding up the turnaround between seasons of hits, but actually doing so is far from easy, especially when extensive post-production work is required.”
TV Series That Release Every Year See Benefit of Short Season Break
Conversely, TV series without long waits between seasons benefited. Luminate notes, “After years of long delays between seasons of streaming hits, the pendulum appears to be swinging back in the direction of an annual release cadence. The Pitt and Landman both launched their sophomore seasons almost one year to the day after their debuts and were rewarded with huge viewership bumps, with The Pitt more than doubling its estimated audience. Meanwhile, unscripted hits The Traitors and Love Island USA found breakout moments in the past two years after returning each winter and summer, respectively, like clockwork. The outlier among this group, The Night Agent, saw viewership decline between seasons 2 and 3 despite a short gap, but this notably came after the show had a larger drop-off from S1 following a nearly two-year break.”
Nerdist Take: Shorten The Gap Between Seasons!!!
We’re glad to see some hard data and reports to back the thesis, but even going on just common sense, making us wait less time between seasons can only be a good thing! Audience growth needs momentum and momentum needs content! Waiting for really long amounts of time between seasons kills that momentum and the audience growth TV series need to survive.
We absolutely understand that quality takes time, but it’s hard to remember what I did yesterday, let alone what I watched two years ago. And in such a content-heavy era, it’s really easy to get pulled away from a show and forget all about it. That probably means you won’t be coming back for more. We’ll also take a minute to advocate for the weekly release here. Please and thank you!