To boxset or not to boxset?

Why TV content release isn’t a binary equation

Balanced headlines and nuanced articles don’t get as much engagement as click-bait polemics.

It therefore shouldn’t come as a surprise that articles have recently started appearing that suggest Netflix has got it all dreadfully wrong with its boxset release strategy and that releasing episodes weekly is clearly the way to go.

Whilst the notion of a single, predictable release strategy for all TV content might sound appealing, what most content companies have learnt - or are in the process of rapidly learning - is that a mix of content release models is invariably the optimal approach.

Which is fortunate, as a mix of release models is also often unavoidable, thanks to a combination of slipped production schedules, immovable marketing deadlines, rights carve outs and conditions imposed by talent.

The trick is to minimise the variation imposed by external factors and maximise the variation driven by strategic insight.

Working out which programmes to drop all at once and which to drip feed isn’t an exact science. However, there are some general rules that can help inform an overall rights acquisition/retention strategy which you can then decide when to deviate from.

Where you’re starting from is material.

Most broadcaster streaming services have evolved from catch-up offers, where weekly or daily release was the default model and releasing all episodes at once necessitated securing additional rights, adjusting production/delivery schedules and getting talent on board with potentially only getting one bite of the publicity cherry.

Netflix started at the other end of the spectrum, with delivery of all episodes upfront being the norm and therefore baked into contracts, with no linear broadcast slots to factor into the decision making.

What you’re trying to achieve also has a bearing.

Maximising the reach and impact of each individual show is rarely the sole driver. The aggregate impact of different release models on the overall service is also a consideration and it’s not always obvious which release models will be most effective in driving acquisition and retention.

What viewers say they want isn’t necessarily a good barometer either.

So, what are some tentative rules to then decide when to bend and break?

1.) Genuine appointment-to-view / water-cooler / event TV is best released weekly (or daily)

Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, Succession, Stranger Things. These are established, talked about dramas that any content provider could feel confident in releasing weekly (assuming there were more episodes to release).

Similarly, established live or pseudo-live entertainment/reality formats such as Strictly, Bake Off, I’m A Celebrity and Love Island have a currency that will ensure viewers will make time to watch that day/week, making an episodic content release pattern a no brainer.

The challenge is identifying new shows which have the potential to become genuine event TV.

Traditional broadcasters have an advantage over the streamers here in the form of a broadcast schedule, which can act as promotional real estate and still has a significant impact on what content the mainstream media are talking about in a given week.

Without a broadcast schedule, the standalone streamers have to rely on marketing spend, PR, on-product promotion and word-of-mouth alone to cut through with new titles.

One tool in the broadcast scheduler’s toolbox for increasing the likelihood of a drama or entertainment format being experienced as event TV is releasing episodes on successive days in a single week (known in the industry as ‘stripping’), used to great effect by the BBC with Criminal Justice (2008) and more recently with The Traitors (2022).

A variation of this is releasing the first two episodes on consecutive days, before reverting to a weekly release pattern (see the BBC’s release of Jed Mecurio’s Bodyguard in 2018).

2.) Habit-driving dramas and entertainment formats are best released episodically

Alongside the handful of drama and entertainment mega hits any one content provider may have on its books, another content type that’s best released episodically is lower profile, habit-driving continuing dramas and entertainment formats.

Were it possible for the EastEnders or Corrie production teams to work 24/7 to stockpile a year’s worth of episodes, I would still recommend releasing a maximum of 5 episodes per week.

Even formats which content owners might consider highly formulaic and the episodes interchangeable, can make sense to release on a daily or weekly basis to build habit and tap into a core human desire to experience things at the same time as other people (see newspaper crosswords, Wordle, films on TV that you own on DVD).

I remember the unexpected avalanche of complaints when one episode of BBC One quiz show Pointless wasn’t broadcast in sequence (viewers wanted to see whether the couples who’d failed on their first appearance had succeeded second time around).

3.) Boxset all other dramas

All dramas which aren’t caught by rules 1 or 2, I would advise releasing as a boxset. This gives viewers the opportunity to immediately follow episode 1 with episode 2 and get more invested in the characters/story without having to wait a week or make an active decision to seek the show out again in a subsequent viewing session.

4.) Comedy series are best boxset

Whilst some comedy series do have a gentle narrative arc over multiple episodes, it’s spending time with the characters plus - hopefully - some genuine LOLs that are usually the bigger draw. The lack of cliffhangers/big reveals (versus drama) plus the fact that many comedy series take a few episodes to get hooked on make releasing them weekly a bold choice.

5.) Release children’s shows as boxsets

The fight for children’s attention is now so intense, that deliberating withholding episodes of a show in the hope they’ll return next week feels like a high-risk strategy.

An exception to this rule is talent-led YouTube formats which leverage the subscribe mechanic to reliably reach an audience with new ‘episodes’.

6.) Boxset documentary series

Even top-tier documentary series (think Attenborough, Theroux, Curtis) don’t merit a staggered release. Upload all available episodes and let viewers proceed at their own pace.

Alternative release models

What about Netflix’s half-boxset model, deployed for the latest seasons of Stranger Things, You and The Witcher? Whilst the motivation is understandable (increase the number of months viewers need to subscribe to watch a whole season), it’s potentially the worst of all worlds as far as the viewer is concerned. You have to gobble up all of the released episodes to avoid spoilers but then have to wait weeks/months for your second helping, potentially losing interest in the interim.

Premiering (making series available to stream days, weeks or months ahead of their broadcast transmission) is another release model broadcasters have been known to dabble with which I tend to counsel against.

As well as potentially resulting in two bursts of marketing spend, shows released first or exclusively on a broadcaster’s streaming service are often put into the same mental category as ‘straight to DVD’ films in the 90s and early 00s. I’ve watched multiple focus groups where participants have agreed that if a streaming premiere/exclusive was any good, the broadcaster would have put it out on ‘normal telly’ at the same time.

For series which a broadcaster is planning to boxset, releasing all episodes on the day the first episode goes out on broadcast promises the best of both worlds - concentrated press and publicity, with streaming viewers able to dive straight into episode two.

So, ‘to boxset or not to boxset?’ As with most ‘this or that?’ questions, the answer is ‘it depends’.