4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Streaming trends 2025: Are weekly episodes replacing the binge?
For years, streaming taught us to binge. Entire seasons dropped in one go, the 'Next Episode' button eliminated cliffhanger suspense, and weekend marathons became the norm. But now, something surprising is happening — especially among Gen Z: the weekly drop is back, and it's not just working — it's winning.
Take The Last of Us Season 2 on OSN+, a gritty, emotionally devastating post-apocalyptic series that concluded after a seven-week run on May 26 in the UAE, becoming a Monday ritual across the Middle East. The show didn't just dominate timelines — it's dominated time. One episode a week. No skipping ahead. No spoilers unless you dare.
What changed? This is the generation long believed to crave instant gratification — the same cohort known for skipping intros, doubling playback speed, and abandoning a series two minutes in. Yet they're showing up week after week for slow-burn television, emotionally raw narratives, and serialised suspense. Why?
Because binge culture may have offered control, but the weekly drop delivers community.
According to OSN+, Gen Z viewers in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) are choosing weekly drops over binge dumps; 47 of the top 50 most in-demand shows in early 2023 in MENA followed a weekly or staggered release model.
TikTok and the rise of episodic attention
Ironically, the same Gen Z that's glued to TikTok's short-form content is helping drive this shift. TikTok, once known for its 15-second dopamine hits, has evolved into a platform of mini-episodic storytelling. Viral multi-part sagas like the 'Who Did I Marry?' series or real-life 'Storytime' confessions span five, ten, sometimes twenty clips — and viewers stick around.
These aren't just passive watches; they're participatory. Viewers stitch reactions, drop theories, and stay hooked until the final reveal. Sound familiar? It's the same energy fueling weekly appointment TV.
In Gen Z's own vernacular, 'it's giving… community.'
Weekly drops vs. the binge: What platforms are doing
Streaming services have started to take notice and vary their release strategies accordingly:
Netflix remains synonymous with binge culture (Bridgerton, Baby Reindeer, Selling Sunset) — often dropping entire seasons at once. But it has flirted with the weekly format for reality shows like The Circle and Love Is Blind, using cliffhangers and staggered episodes to fuel online buzz. It also drops seasons in parts; for instance, makers of Stranger Things released seven episodes of their hit show's fourth season on May 27, 2022, and the remaining two episodes on July 1, 2022.
Disney+ almost exclusively releases episodes weekly for major titles like The Mandalorian, Loki, and The Acolyte, leaning into fandom discussion and long-tail engagement.
Amazon Prime Video often uses a hybrid model. Shows like The Boys and Invincible premiere with two or three episodes, then shift to weekly drops.
HBO/Max (and by extension OSN+ in the Middle East) is a purist in this space, famously championing weekly releases for shows like House of the Dragon, and now The Last of Us. The result? A groundswell of online chatter, theories, and emotional build-up that just doesn't happen with full-season dumps.
Each model serves a purpose, but there's a growing appetite for the slow-burn — especially when the story deserves space to breathe.
When The Last of Us S2 premiered on OSN+, fans weren't just watching — they were posting, reacting, and predicting. Major character arcs — like the divisive arrival of Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever), or the emotionally loaded moments with Joel (Pedro Pascal) — became weekly conversation starters. TikTok exploded with edits and think pieces; Reddit threads broke down symbolism, flashbacks, even line delivery.
This isn't just consumption — it's participation.
Each episode becomes a cultural event, a shared pause in the chaos of content overload. And in a world where everything moves fast, the wait becomes a feature, not a flaw.
The return of the weekly drop isn't just a throwback — it's a digital coping mechanism. It builds anticipation. It invites reflection. It lets stories sink in. For a generation bombarded with stimuli, the wait might just be the magic.
Binge culture trained us to race. Weekly TV is teaching us to feel.
What do you prefer? Binge watching or weekly episode drops.
