Netflix invented binge-watching. Now it may have outgrown it. | Tech Crunch

Overview

A buzzy Bloomberg report citing Netflix data suggests viewers are increasingly abandoning popular shows before the second season. The likely reasons aren’t hard to guess: Netflix frequently cancels shows, there’s too long a wait in between seasons, and much of Netflix’s content is designed for an algorithm instead of for the sake of art.

But the data also points to a shift in how people are consuming entertainment. Netflix’s defining innovation – the binge — was built for an era when streaming was competing with traditional TV. Today, Netflix is competing with Tik Tok, You Tube, Reels, and various microdrama apps. That shift makes Netflix’s binge model feel like a dated relic from another era.

Details

When Netflix first dropped an entire season of “House of Cards” in February 2013, it was a revelation. Ad-free, internet-connected TV meant we could be unshackled from the traditional routine of once-per-week shows punctuated by commercials. Instead, bingeable shows meant viewers could be entertained for hours on end, quickly forming a bond with titles and their characters that would have otherwise taken years to develop. Plus, you could drop in on them at any time — not only the day the network decided to air them, as with linear television.

This way of viewing made sense in a world where Netflix was largely still competing with traditional TV like broadcast, cable, and satellite. But Netflix won that fight. Nielsen in June 2025 announced that the TV era reached a new milestone, when the Netflix-style streaming format for the first time eclipsed broadcast and cable viewing — a milestone that made clear Netflix’s original competition was no longer the threat.

Now Netflix’s competition isn’t the TV of old, but what has become the TV of today: video apps.

Thanks to the rise of Tik Tok, Reels, and other short-form video platforms, there’s no need for you to visit Netflix when you have a couple of hours to kill with mindless entertainment. There’s an endless, free supply of video you can turn to instead.

According to e Marketer analysts, Tik Tok was already nearing Netflix in terms of time spent back in 2024, when U. S. adults were spending an average of 62.1 minutes per day streaming from Netflix and 58.4 minutes per day on Tik Tok. In 2024, the Financial Times reported that, globally, Tik Tok users spent an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, the highest engagement rate among major social networks.

Then there is You Tube, which offers a combination of both short and longer-form content. Per a report released this year by Digital i, You Tube surpassed Netflix in average daily viewing for the first time, with 99.1 minutes daily in 2025 compared with Netflix’s 93.4 minutes.

These market reports use differing methodologies and demographics, so they should be taken with a grain of salt — but directionally, they point the same way. You Tube and apps like Tik Tok are Netflix’s real competition, not TV.

Where Netflix gets the feed wrong is that it’s still pitched as a way to help you find something to watch, rather than being the thing you watch. It’s understandable why Netflix went this route, given its library, but it’s not necessarily what the end user wants. Today, many people with dopamine-drained attention spans are instead seeking out microdrama apps in growing numbers when they want a serialized storyline they can consume in minutes.

According to data from the app intelligence firm Appfigures, one top microdrama app, Reel Short, saw roughly

Where does that leave Netflix, whose claim to fame has been full seasons dropped at once for rapid consumption?

Likely, it will have to rethink how it’s greenlighting, producing, and releasing what it considers a “TV show.”

That doesn’t mean that the Netflix model has to pivot entirely to short-form to keep up with the competition, but it may need to reconsider how people want to stream. Viewers may no longer want to commit the hours and weeks it takes to get through a show and all of its subsequent seasons, for instance. They want something that feels more “finishable,” the way you can easily get through a You Tube video or Tik Tok series from a creator.

A simple fix could see Netflix try prioritizing single-season shows, traditionally known as miniseries or limited series, allowing people to tune into a completed work without having to worry whether it would end on a cliffhanger and never be renewed.

Netflix could also experiment with breaking up shows into smaller chunks, like the before-its-time Quibi model.

The Jeffrey Katzenberg-backed startup, Quibi, had bet that people would eventually gravitate towards TV content designed to be consumed in shorter sessions. Unfortunately for Quibi, the pandemic hit, and people suddenly had a lot of time to watch TV, leading to its demise.

Many Netflix shows could be easily revamped for shorter viewing sessions, particularly lightweight competition shows like “Nailed It,” “Is It Cake?,” or “Squid Game: The Challenge.” Meanwhile, Netflix could surely produce better microdramas than the ones currently on the market with their awful acting and ridiculous storylines.

To generate interest in its higher-quality content, some Netflix shows could be shifted to the weekly release model. This is something Netflix has already proven works in specific cases. For instance, it drops new episodes of its reality show “Love Is Blind” in weekly dumps, making it great watercooler fodder as everyone is watching the new episodes around the same time. (Faster consumption models could work, too. For instance, Peacock’s “Love Island USA” is the reality hit of the summer, as there’s a new episode almost daily).

But instead of experimenting with different types of short-form content for quick entertainment, combined with slower releases for seasons, or focusing more heavily on miniseries worth watching, Netflix has been dabbling in other areas.

As of late, it’s expanded its lineup with podcasts, which reportedly no one is watching, and live content, which can be hit or miss. In terms of the latter, Netflix investments in live sports have generally done well, but its recent entry into live reality competition shows, “Star Search,” has already been canceled despite a clever real-time voting feature. More work here is still needed.

Bloomberg’s report framed the problem facing Netflix as a failure to create loyal TV viewers who tune into a Season 2, but the underlying issue facing the streamer is much bigger. Netflix may need to rethink whether it still needs to focus on competing with traditional TV and its long-running shows, or whether it should focus on entertainment projects whose storytelling arcs have less filler and wrap up more quickly.

To find the right balance between viewers ditching cable and those who just want something better than Tik Tok, Netflix is finding itself needing to reinvent TV all over again.

Key Takeaways

• A buzzy Bloomberg report citing Netflix data suggests viewers are increasingly abandoning popular shows before the second season
• But the data also points to a shift in how people are consuming entertainment
• When Netflix first dropped an entire season of “House of Cards” in February 2013, it was a revelation
• This way of viewing made sense in a world where Netflix was largely still competing with traditional TV like broadcast, cable, and satellite
• Now Netflix’s competition isn’t the TV of old, but what has become the TV of today: video apps