The world of television has experienced many transformations with the rise of streaming services, which has fundamentally shifted the expectations for episode and season lengths. Without the restriction of the traditional time slot, streaming platforms have redefined viewer engagement by offering longer, ad-free episodes. This evolution has led to a mix of opportunities and challenges in the industry, as producers gain creative freedom and navigate the complexities of audience attention spans. As viewers increasingly gravitate toward shorter, more instantly gratifying content, it raises a question: Are we gaining or losing depth in the media we consume?
Many have attributed the lengthening of TV to
the fall of cable TV and the rise of streaming services. While they are still successful, it is apparent that streaming services have begun to take over the popular TV space. Traditionally, on cable television networks, shows are given anywhere from 30-minute to 1-hour time slots, with commercial breaks taking up about a third of this time. Populating the 30-minute time slots are the sitcoms or soap opera-adjacent shows like Friends or Modern Family. Then, in the hour-long time slots are the more “in-depth dramas,” like Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, documentaries, or late night. However, as streaming services become more dominant in the TV series space, they have used their model of “no ads” to change this practice. Services that do not show ads have begun to set the new standard for episode and season length. Escaping from the usual 22-45 minute episode, the duration of each episode has been around the hour long mark. On streaming services, seasons range from about 5 to 15 episodes per season, versus the network, which is 15 to 25. So, what has caused this decline in season duration?
The primary resource of a short season is just a balance: if the episodes are longer, the season will be shorter. This development could be seen as positive or negative for many reasons. With freedom from the
network, television producers have more freedom to create unique and stylistic shows. Many of the shows with episodes over an hour long are made because of meticulous storytelling, which may fit into a this format better. It has also caused networks to adapt to this way of storytelling. For example, the Emmy-winning series Shōgun, produced by the FX Network, features episodes from 60 to 70 minutes long.
There has also been a rise in the popularity of “mini-series.” Mini-series are TV productions that tell a complete story in a set timeframe. A single, season-long show that does not intend to resume. These allow companies to make a shorter commitment to a series without having to provide a large Blockbuster movie budget. With this model, companies still have the space to tell a detailed story more thoroughly, just without taking as big of a risk financially. However, there is a significant problem in countering these ideas. Viewers do not pay attention.
Because constant entertainment is readily available today, viewers may become unknowingly disconnected from their content. Short-form media creates a cycle of instant gratification that is not standard for an hour-long episode. Without interest, it theoretically
becomes more challenging to keep a watcher engaged without possibly “cutting corners.” Even though there has been a shift in TV episode length in the industry, many have criticized this change. Out of the 55 people polled, over 80% of people at WFS think the average episode should stay under 45 minutes.
Now, with the knowledge that users may not be giving their full attention to a program, some companies may be exploiting this habit. According to sources from The Guardian, Netflix purposely creates and pushes shows that can be understood by someone who may not be paying attention, labelling them “second-screen shows.” Piper Roskovensky, a junior at Friends, says, “It’s really weird to think that people’s attention spans have gotten shorter, so much so that companies have to create movies and shows geared towards their audiences’ short attention spans.” The idea is that if shows are easier to watch in the background, more people are likely to watch them. More people, more profit. The problem is that writers have been told to simplify scripts and TV shows concepts, which may backtrack on the progress to create more depth in television.
This transformation of television in the technological age has created new avenues of possibilities for TV but has also introduced new restraints. While now enjoying freedom away from rigid time slots, the audience’s attention spans may not be able to adapt. In the era of endless entertainment, it is vital to ask whether the “binge-watch” format stops the viewers from engaging more deeply.
