Turkey, NFL & ‘Stranger Things’: Netflix Holiday Stunt Overrides Duffers’ Push for Weekly
SCOOP: What the creators wanted as industry insiders spill on the final-season strategy and the streamer’s new openness to moving beyond the binge
I cover TV from L.A. I got the inside dope on Ryan Murphy’s Kim Kardashian legal drama All’s Fair, interviewed Universal Content Productions chief Beatrice Springborn and wrote about the mood at Warners as insiders anticipate a sale. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
For the final season of the Stranger Things juggernaut, Netflix wanted to do something special with its rollout, and internal conversations, sources tell me, even included a dramatic pitch to do something that the streamer had never done before — a move that creators Matt and Ross Duffer are said to have preferred and that senior executives rejected (and that I’ll tell you about further down). Still, it’s noteworthy that all the alternate release ideas discussed flew in the face of the all-at-once binge model, given co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ long-held belief that audiences are served better that way.
We know now that the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will launch over the three biggest holidays of the year: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. But the decision came only after much deliberation.
Today, I’ll take you inside Netflix’s decision-making and, with the help of some schedulers and informed sources, read the tea leaves of what may be going on inside the streamer as it shows signs of more flexibility about release cadence, where any of its moves could shake up the industry (yet again).
In my column, you’ll learn:
The never-before strategies Netflix weighed for Stranger Things’ final season — and what the Duffer brothers wanted (but didn’t get)
Why the Stranger Things three-parter may bring Netflix closer to considering weekly episode drops
The elusive goal Netflix still hasn’t achieved with its global hits, and how this strategy could change that
How the streamer’s splashy holiday stunt can reduce churn
The tactics, instincts and risks that drove old-school broadcast scheduling, and linear’s anemic efforts at experimentation now
A scheduling pro’s role in the streaming era, and what’s at stake — even for a dominant Netflix — in getting it right