The ‘Stranger Things’ Effect: Report Finds Gap Between Seasons Of Scripted TV Shows Nearly Doubled During First Half Of This Decade
by Sisiwakanamaru
The ‘Stranger Things’ Effect: Report Finds Gap Between Seasons Of Scripted TV Shows Nearly Doubled During First Half Of This Decade
by Sisiwakanamaru
7 Comments
Hmm what could have happened during the first half of the decade? Nothing? Yeah totally no global event with effects on people grouping for shooting stuff.
Its so fucking tiring. Whenever theres a new show that im interested about i might just not watch it because either:
a) it will be cancelled after a couple of seasons
b) you have to wait 2 years for the next season to come out
This is hurting TV. Seasons Taking so long to come out forces time jumps that skip potentially interesting stuff, and fans move on, to where fans have either lost interest and investment in a show by the time it comes out, or it taking so long builds up so much hype that it’s practically impossible to live up to.
This isn’t the Stranger Things effect. This is the David Zaslav effect.
During Stranger Things first run, the vast majority of tv shows were still releasing a new season every year with 10 episodes.
It wasn’t until David Zaslav became the CEO of Warner Bros that he started to delay series renewals to purposely create artificial scarcity despite actors wanting to work and production companies having the ability to make new seasons every year.
Remember that Game of Thrones was the most expensive show of all time and was able to release a new season every year.
The problem is that studios no longer renew contracts, which causes a delay in seasons. And they do this to create artificial scarcity
> Regardless of fan ire, Ampere feels the tactic works, flagging that shows with gaps of more than 30 months between seasons have achieved the highest engagement in the premiere month of the new season. Viewing of Stranger Things rose by 300% in H2 2025 ahead of the release of its fifth and final season, Ampere said, with particularly strong viewing of Season 1 suggesting new viewers were discovering the series and existing fans were revisiting earlier episodes.
And this is why the trend won’t change
I just watch old stuff I haven’t seen before. I know then that the quality is good as it has stood the test of time, and it can’t be cancelled.
Stranger Things, I did watch Season 5 but since season 1 I have got married, moved 3 times and had a kid. My memory of S1 is limited.
From the perspective of viewers, it is incredibly annoying having to wait so long for the next season.
From the perspective of the studio, this is great news as a longer wait builds up demand for the show and ensures more viewers are watching.