NBC Follows Netflix Example

On Wednesday, April 29, NBC announced that it would be releasing the entire 12-episode season of its new mini-series Aquarius for binge viewing on NBC.com, the NBC app and VOD platforms for a full month after the first episode airs on May 28th. Aquarius features David Duchovny as a 1967 Los Angeles police officer who is investigating activities that link to the Manson Family before they became known to the public and law enforcement.

Bob Greenblatt, NBC’s Entertainment Chairman, explained that the network is “fully aware” that people want to binge view multiple episodes from new TV series at their own pace. He offered up this change as an example of NBC pushing “new boundaries” that other basic TV networks have not yet explored.

Of course, the decision goes beyond audience preference and straight to the network’s revenues. Critics of the network have pointed out that many viewers, especially cord-cutters, are tired of watching TV shows on weekly network schedules and instead choose to wait until a new series’ season ends before watching it. Many like Brad Reifler also do this because some traditional networks are axing series within the first three or four episodes.

As a result, many traditional networks like NBC are seeing huge drops in ratings and financial losses. The lack of high ratings have lead more advertisers to leave behind traditional networks and invest their budgets in online TV entertainment streaming enterprises.