Apple is seemingly taking a mixed approach to the way it will debut new Apple TV+ shows. According to the company, it will release three episodes of The Morning Show, one of its flagship series, when the service launches on November 1. After that, new episodes will debut every Friday.
That’s a change from Netflix’s approach of dumping every episode of a new season at once. It’s also a change from Apple’s plan for Dickinson, which star Hailee Steinfeld recently revealed will debut all 10 episodes straight out of the gate.
The idea that Apple would debut three new episodes of a show and then additional episodes each week was previously reported by Bloomberg. While binge-watching has become standard in the streaming age, there’s good reason for this approach. Many users will sign up to services to watch every episode of a show, then unsubscribe. This causes plenty of churn in the user base. Apple’s approach won’t remove that entirely, but it will give viewers a reason to stick around.
It could still backfire, though. Early reviews of The Morning Show suggest that the first couple of episodes aren’t great. It’s only as the show hits its third and fourth episodes that things pick up. The idea that Apple TV+ shows are slow burns was echoed with reviews of other shows. That could mean that all viewers will see early on are the weaker episodes — and they’ll need to keep tuning in for the show to get good. That’s unlike Netflix, where all those shows are available right away.
Apple TV+: Not for binge-watching?
Ultimately, we don’t know which strategy is best. There are pros and cons to both approaches. What interests me is the idea that, from the sound of things, Apple could vary its approach based on the show.
How do you think Apple TV+ should release its shows? Do you prefer the old-school model of one episode a week? Or is Apple missing a trick by not embracing the world of binge-watching? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Apple
