A buzzy Bloomberg report citing Netflix data found that viewers are increasingly abandoning popular shows before their second seasons begin. The possible reasons are not difficult to guess. Netflix cancels shows frequently, the wait between seasons is too long, and much of Netflix’s content is designed for algorithms, not for art.
But the data also shows a shift in the way people consume entertainment. Netflix’s defining innovation, Binge, was created for an era when streaming competed with traditional TV. Currently, Netflix is competing with TikTok, YouTube, Reels, and various microdrama apps. These changes make Netflix’s binge model feel like an old relic from another era.
Binge watching helped Netflix beat TV.
When Netflix released the first full season of ‘House of Cards’ in February 2013, it was a surprise.
Ad-free, internet-connected TV meant we could break away from the traditional routine of a once-a-week show punctuated by commercials. Instead, bingeable shows meant viewers could be entertained for hours on end, quickly forming bonds with titles and characters that would have taken years to develop. Plus, like linear TV, you can watch it any time, not just on the days the network decides to air it.
This way of viewing made sense in a world where Netflix still competes with traditional TV like broadcast, cable, and satellite. But Netflix won that battle. In June 2025, Nielsen announced that the TV era has reached a new milestone, with Netflix-style streaming formats surpassing broadcast and cable viewing for the first time. This was a milestone that made it clear that Netflix’s original competition was no longer a threat.
Now Netflix’s competition isn’t the TVs of old, but the video apps that make up today’s TVs.
TikTok and YouTube are today’s threats
Thanks to the rise of TikTok, Reels, and other short-form video platforms, there’s no need to visit Netflix when you could be spending hours on mindless entertainment. Instead, you have endless free videos to rely on.
According to eMarketer analysts, TikTok is already close to Netflix in 2024, when U.S. adults spent an average of 62.1 minutes per day streaming on Netflix and 58.4 minutes per day on TikTok. In 2024, the Financial Times reported that TikTok users globally spent an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, the highest engagement rate of any major social network.
And then there’s YouTube, which offers both short and long content. According to a report released this year by Digital i, YouTube will surpass Netflix for the first time in 2025 with an average daily viewing time of 99.1 minutes. This compares to Netflix’s 93.4 minutes.
These market reports should be taken lightly as they use different methodologies and demographics. But directionally they point in the same direction. Apps like YouTube and TikTok are the real competitors to Netflix, not TV.
Netflix even acknowledged this existential threat last April with a product redesign that added a TikTok-like feed based on Netflix content.
Where Netflix gets the feed wrong is that it’s still promoted as a way to help you find content to watch, not watch it. Considering the library, it’s understandable why Netflix took this route, but it’s not necessarily what end users want. Today, many people with depleted attention spans are turning to a growing number of microdrama apps when they want serialized storylines they can consume in minutes.
ReelShort, one of the top microdrama apps, will see total consumer spending of about $1.2 billion in 2025, up 119% from 2024, according to data from app intelligence company AppFigures, TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling previously reported. Meanwhile, another major app, DramaBox, generated $276 million in total consumer spending last year, more than double its 2024 figure. Even TikTok acknowledged the competition, launching its own microdrama app to test the market’s appetite for this type of content.
Where does Netflix go from here?
What happens to Netflix, which claims to have made a name for itself by dropping entire seasons at once for rapid consumption?
Perhaps we need to rethink how we approve, produce, and release what counts as a “TV show.”
This doesn’t mean the Netflix model has to completely switch to short formats to keep up with the competition, but it may require rethinking how people want to stream. For example, viewers may no longer want to invest the time and weeks it takes to get through both the show and subsequent seasons. They want something that feels more ‘complete’, like an easy way to watch a creator’s YouTube video or TikTok series.
A simple fix would allow Netflix to prioritize single-season shows, traditionally known as miniseries or limited series, so people can watch the completed production without having to worry about it ending on a cliffhanger or not being renewed.
Netflix could also experiment with breaking shows into smaller chunks, like the previous Quibi model.
Quibi, a startup backed by Jeffrey Katzenberg, is confident that people will eventually gravitate toward TV content designed to be consumed in shorter sessions. Unfortunately for Quibi, it came to an end when the pandemic hit and people suddenly had more time to watch TV.
Many Netflix shows can be easily revamped for shorter viewing sessions, especially “Nailed It,” “Is It Cake?” Or a light competition show like “Squid Game: The Challenge.” Meanwhile, Netflix could definitely produce a better microdrama than what’s currently on the market with its bad acting and ridiculous storylines.
Some Netflix shows may move to a weekly release model to generate interest in high-quality content. This is something Netflix has already proven works in certain cases. For example, a weekly dump of new episodes of the reality show “Love Is Blind” would be great because everyone would watch the new episodes at the same time. (A faster consumption model could also work: Peacock’s “Love Island USA,” for example, is a summer hit because there are new episodes almost every day.)
But instead of experimenting with different types of short-form content for quick entertainment, combining slower releases into seasons, or focusing more on watchable miniseries, Netflix is dabbling in other areas.
Recently, we’ve expanded our lineup to include podcasts we know no one is watching and live content that can be hit or miss. In the latter case, Netflix’s investment in live sports has performed well overall, but its recent foray into live reality competition programming, ‘Star Search,’ has already been canceled despite its ingenious real-time voting feature. More work still needs to be done here.
Bloomberg’s report framed the problems facing Netflix as a failure to generate a loyal TV audience to watch Season 2, but the underlying problem facing the streamer is much bigger. Netflix may need to rethink whether it should still focus on competing with traditional TV and long-running programming, or on entertainment projects that have less filling storytelling arcs and are wrapped up more quickly.
To find the right balance between viewers ditching cable and those who want something better than TikTok, Netflix is finding it needs to reinvent TV once again.
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