Experts weigh in on what hit shows like Stranger things
And House of the Dragon
Have such big gaps between seasons. Stranger things Premiered on Netflix in 2016 and released its season 4 in 2022. Stranger things Season 5, which was confirmed to be the show’s last, is now confirmed to arrive in 2025, a three-year gap. House of the DragonHBO’s acclaimed Game of Thrones spinoff, premiered in 2022 and didn’t return until earlier this year. Season 3 of the show has now been confirmed, with no release date.
A new report from The Times Now dives into what modern shows like Stranger things And House of the Dragon They don’t come back with new seasons every year, as used to be the case. Fred Black, chief analyst at Ampere Analysis, and Diederick Santer, an experienced British TV producer, both weigh in on the new TV production timeline, especially in the world of streaming.
The fact that shows how Stranger things, House of the DragonAnd The last of usAmong others, taking so long between seasons is partly due to their weight. They are all wildly expensive endeavors Which features great casts, great sets and lots of special effects. Interestingly, however, one point that both experts bring out is the delay that occurs before renewals occur, such as Places like Netflix and HBO now require more viewership data over a long period of time before making decisions. Check out Black and Santer’s comments below:
Schwartz: “The streamers will increasingly make sure that they get a good return on their investment, especially in their big budget shows. Previously, they might have gambled on a recommission based on the quality of the show alone, but now they are waiting up to six months before they make a decision.
Santer: “Every part of the production process has become slower because the show has become bigger and more complex. We’re seeing fewer detective dramas set in the same room with the same cast retained on 12-month contracts. Now it’s all about Building huge worlds for shows that take longer to write and shoot and have more ambitious special effects.
“In years past, they would look at the overnight ratings data and would know what the reaction was to a show the morning after it launched. Now people look at how well it did in a minimum of 28 days.
What the changed TV landscape means for consumers
There are pros & cons to TV shows being bigger than ever before
Although there was a two-year gap between Game of Thrones Season 8 and the previous season, the show has up to this point released a new season every year. The fantasy series has built a massive audience and has clear momentum year over year, becoming one of the most watched and acclaimed HBO shows of all time. With longer gaps between seasons, It’s arguably harder for that same kind of momentum to build, and more needs to be done to remind viewers of what happened in previous seasons.
Shows with these big budgets need to be massively successful to justify their own existence, and that may be why so many streaming shows seem to be getting cancelled.
TV shows now also have bigger budgets than ever before. The per-episode budget of Stranger things Season 4 is reported to be a staggering $30 million. A budget of $30 million per episode means that Stranger things Features movie-level visual effects and a blockbuster narrative scale, but it raises some big questions about the economics of the model.
Related
In the television landscape of the ’90s and the early 2000s, one of the key ways a television show made money was through advertising. Although ad-supported streaming tiers are now becoming more common, this old model has completely changed, and Streamers apparently take into account subscriber growth, watch time, total viewers and other metrics to judge a title’s success. But how many people need to subscribe or watch Stranger things To justify a per-episode budget of $30 million? Shows with these big budgets need to be massively successful to justify their own existence, and that may be why so many streaming shows seem to be getting cancelled.
Our take on today’s new television landscape
Is the new TV model sustainable in the long term?
With success bars being higher than when TV shows cost less and released new seasons more regularly, There is seemingly a rise in consumer frustration about canceled shows. The hit shows that exist look great and are basically like blockbuster movies, but it certainly seems like the model is not sustainable in the long term. It is not clear what the budget will be for Stranger things Season 5 or House of the Dragon Season 3, but both shows are evidently returning in a television landscape that is likely to experience more shakeups in the coming years.
Source: The Times