Netflix’s Split Strategy: Boosting Views with Shorter Seasons

Netflix is changing how it releases its shows by splitting some series into two parts. This strategy aims to increase the total views, even if viewers spend less immediate time watching the series.

For example, season four of Outer Banks premiered with 62.3 million viewing hours globally during its first week. This is a strong start, but it’s about 60% lower than the 155 million hours seen in the full premiere of season three. Many Netflix shows are showing similar trends: fewer episodes initially mean less time spent watching, even as more episodes are eventually released.

However, splitting seasons can lead to more overall views. The first half of Emily in Paris season four had just under three hours of episodes and earned 45.1 million views in four weeks. When the second half was released, it added another 27.5 million views, totaling 72.6 million views for a run time of about six hours. This surpassed the 54.6 million views of season three in six weeks.

In contrast, The Witcher season three saw a drop in views. It had 57.8 million views over eight weeks, compared to 67.2 million views for the full release of season two. The split helped but did not fully compensate for the decline in viewing hours.

Netflix calculates a show’s view count over the first 91 days of release. For split seasons, it adds viewing hours from each part and divides by the total running time to determine views.

As of now, the second half of Outer Banks season four has only one week of data. Part one had 122.7 million viewing hours, while the total for the full season may reach about 200 million hours, still trailing behind season three’s 341.4 million. However, with both parts accumulating views, season four may end up having more total views than season three, which is what matters most to Netflix.