To binge or not to binge: the question for all VOD series
It seems like binge-viewing of series is primarily an online thing, but the craze really started back in the ancient times of DVD box sets. Back then, the entire-series weekend binge was an opportunity to catch up on or re-watch older shows.
When Netflix started releasing old TV series, they likely saw in their data that people had a habit of binge-watching those older shows that were no longer on-air. The all-episodes-at-once release of House of Cards served this behavior well. This has now become the norm for many online subscription video services — but does this method make sense for direct sales through a platform like Vimeo On Demand?
The age-old TV series strategy of encouraging anticipation still holds true in an online world.
Herein lies the problem with this trend: if you release a new series all at once, you end up with a very limited window for word-of-mouth marketing, which is the number-one thing that will help your show take off.
Here’s a quick mainstream comparison: the last season of House of Cards came out on February 27 this year. It had 13 episodes that, if they had been released one per week, would have sustained word-of-mouth conversation about the show for three months. People would still have been talking about it by the end of May. That said, I haven’t heard anyone talk about the third season of the show since March — have you? Game of Thrones, on the other hand, launched on April 12, and continued to spark conversations that peaked in the middle of June as the season reached an exciting finale.
With direct VOD, you need someone to make a purchase to watch your show. They can’t simply try it out risk-free because they have a subscription that already includes it. So you really need to sustain strong word-of-mouth momentum for as long as possible. The best way to do this? Keep them begging for more, and give your fans something new to discuss each week.
If you release a series all at once, almost all your revenue will come in the first week, as sales drop off fast. I personally believe that Netflix’s series would do better if they were released sequentially, too. HBO’s model encourages better retention for their service, whereas if you are a House of Cards fan, you only need to subscribe to Netflix for just that month, and then you can cancel after you’ve watched your favorite show within the span of a weekend.
For VOD, the two strongest reasons to make a purchase are:
- You’re a huge fan of something and absolutely need to watch it.
- There’s a conversation going on about a video that you want to be part of.
The people in the first category (a.k.a. your superfans) are the ones who start the conversation that others will want to be part of.
OK, OK. But how about some proof?
In the chart below, the blue lines represent the sales decay for series with all episodes released at once. The red line shows a four-episode series released week by week. The sales stayed strong for the first four weeks and only started to fall off after the whole season was available.
In both cases, almost all purchases are “season pass style,” which means people buy all the episodes upfront, and get access to new episodes as they become available.
The second release maintained strong sales each week as new episodes came out and inspired conversation on social media to continue. The sales drop-off didn’t happen until after the creator released the last episode, and sales continued to be reasonably strong throughout the following weeks (because later, buyers are all binge-viewing to catch up with the conversation that’s still going on about the show). This is a much better pattern and will drive a lot more sales.
Keep them begging for more.
The age-old TV series strategy of encouraging anticipation still holds true in an online world. So I’d recommend that anyone selling a multi-part series through Vimeo On Demand try releasing their episodes in a regular cadence, rather than dropping them all at once to keep that “what happens next??” sentiment going. Oh, and if your series is brand new, you can also consider giving the first episode away for free to whet people’s appetites and get them hooked on your series.
By the way, have you seen Food Lab? I just watched “Cheeseburgers” and “Emulsions” and can’t wait to see the next two episodes launching next month. Until then, I’ll be telling my friends about the first two mouth-watering installments. ;)
Originally published at vimeo.com. Follow Vimeo on Twitter or Facebook to stay informed about future case studies. You can also follow me on Twitter or Tumblr.
