The American action thriller The Night Agent, produced by Shawn Ryan, is based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. The series debuted on March 23, 2023, on Netflix and became the sixth-most-viewed series within a month. As such, it was renewed for a second season after just four days on the streaming platform.
The show is about FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), who is enmeshed in a vast conspiracy involving a government mole. While protecting tech CEO Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) from the people who murdered her aunt and uncle, he embarks on a desperate search for the traitor. Because of the show’s sudden success, a second season was announced by Netflix, although it was not initially planned.
Netflix’s Release Schedule Keeps Hurting Its Shows
Whenever Netflix drops a full season, its viewership numbers spike. It is more likely that the spike will be larger for a popular show. In addition, Netflix has learned that websites and bloggers cover a show more heavily if the full season drops. The more coverage, the more interest, the more viewers. Since it’s an on-demand service, it doesn’t matter how the shows are released. Whether a viewer watches a show in one sitting or spreads it out, the monthly subscription covers their costs.
As a result of the show’s success, The Night Agent was renewed for a second season. However, the second season could flop because Netflix is known for dropping its shows all at once. This slows word-of-mouth benefits that grow audiences week after week. In addition, viewers will have a long wait between the seasons. Seeing as they are able to binge the first season and yet have to wait a year for the next season. The Night Agent is going to hit Netflix in 2024, but a date has yet to be announced. Moreover, since the second season was not planned, it could generate hectic and sloppy writing.
How The Night Agent Benefited From Netflix’s Structure
Since Netflix always releases its shows all at once instead of creating a weekly waiting period, the series is very binge-able. The Night Agent certainly benefitted from this release structure, as most viewers could watch the entire season in one go. Netflix dumped all ten episodes of The Night Agent on its release day, thus, viewers were able to create hype on social media, the minute they finished watching. Although the show is very binge-able, it might hurt Netflix in the long run as the show could be quickly forgotten when viewers finish it immediately.
Netflix’s release structure stands in stark contrast to HBO, which creates a more TV-schedule release of its shows. Even Amazon Prime has arrived at a slow release schedule, as it is slowly proving to enhance word-of-mouth advertising for shows. This, in turn, can grow from weekly enhanced audiences. Maybe, it would be a good idea for Netflix to go away from the all-at-once show release dumping.
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