LogFAQs > #985932023

SunWuKung420 posted...

Then I guess you've forgotten that since the 1970's people have been recording shows so they don't miss episodes completely blowing the starting premise that

That's all well and good, provided they caught the first episode and recorded every subsequent one, instead of seeing a random episode from the middle of the series as their first introduction to it and not immediately deciding to record them.

Even then, that doesn't invalidate my core point, which was that the only people binge watching shows in the pre-streaming era were those that were already sold on them. People that record every episode, buy box sets, or seek out pirate streams are not people that need to be convinced to watch more of the show. People that happen to catch a random episode, however, are, because they're an untapped audience that can potentially join those existing fans and start trying to watch every episode (with all the fun ratings and ad revenue that come with that).

SunWuKung420 posted...

The whole premise that people didn't watch every episode, before streaming and binge watching, is completely flawed.

Then I guess it's a good thing that wasn't my premise. My premise was that it was expected that people would miss episodes. That does not mean that everybody missed episodes of everything, it just means that in designing shows, there was a need to assume that some people would miss some and try not to alienate them.

Streaming has changed that in that it is now expected that everybody watching a show will start at the beginning and watch every episode until it either ends or they lose interest. There no longer needs to be a focus on making sure that you engage somebody that shows up in the middle, it's meaning you can focus entirely on making sure that the series remains engaging the whole way through.