Why Netflix cuts its series into two parts

The first half of season 2 of Wednesday Arrives on Netflix on August 6. The second? September 3. One month of waiting, just to finish the work. But why does the platform make us suffer like this? Spoiler: It is not for the pleasure of the suspense.

Remember, once, when we planned our evenings around TV and depending on the program. There was a specific schedule, one episode per week, and this good old VCR to program up to the second if we had the other side of having something else planned that evening. You wanted to look Desperate Housewives? It was an interest in having settled the chain well, otherwise you were with 10 minutes of Questions for a champion.

Then the binge-watching arrived. All of a sudden. Pouf, magic at Netflix. We started to put on the episodes like Tequila shots on a Saturday evening.

Except that the platform has rear machine. Not completely. Not like HBO who swings one episode per week to the poor camés that we are. No, Netflix found an in-between: the famous two-part cutting. And guess what? It is absolutely not for artistic reasons.

Take the example of Wednesday. Season 2? Cut in half. First half this August 6. Second on September 3. And this is no exception: Stranger Things, The Witcher, The Money Heist, The Chronicle of Bridgerton… even shit plan. Netflix calls it “improved user experience”. We call it “getting getting got caught and waiting for another month to see the rest when we have already paid for renewal”.

Two audience peaks (ditto on your visa)

According to the media Wiredthis strategy simply makes it possible to prevent people from subscribing for only a month, to look everything, then to unsubscribe before their card is debited for a second month. Notably. And on Reddit, subscribers are not fooled. On the R/Netflix thread, a user sums up the idea as well:

Basically, there are two moments when everyone talks about the series. Two peaks of articles in the press. Twice as many tweets. Twice as much views.

Netflix began to test this format from The Money Heistand success has been such that they have applied the concept to almost all their flagship series since. More visibility. More time spent on the platform. And above all, more subscribers who forget that they pay one more month.

On the Netflix side, the official response is blurred. Béla Bajaria, the Chief Content Officer, told the press that the binge model remains their trademark.

But she also doesn’t say that cutting a series in two, it’s bad for business. Let’s say it’s … creative. And practice when filming and production are late. Or in any case, it is an almost credible way to explain it.

Nostalgiiiiie

In the end, this cutting a bit annoying allows us to regain a little from our old addiction: to wait. But this time, instead of suffering every week while waiting for an episode of Lost As in 2006, we are waiting for a month to see the end of a series that we already had a rainy Sunday.

And too bad if it breaks the pace a little. Too bad if we forgot who died at the end of part 1. The platform, it does not forget to debit.

By the way, if you were thinking of registering for a free week, Binge-Watcher Wednesday In August, then return in September for the future … Well, know that Netflix has deleted the free trial offer for several years in most countries, including in Switzerland, France and the United States. Another way to lock subscriptions. If you want to know the end, you will have to go to the checkout. At least twice.