Netflix's binge-watching model may be a relic of the past

A buzzy Bloomberg report citing Netflix data suggests viewers are increasingly abandoning popular shows before the second season. The likely reasons aren’t hard to guess: Netflix frequently cancels shows, there’s too long a wait in between seasons, and much of Netflix’s content is designed for an algorithm instead of for the sake of art. But the data also points to a shift in how people are consuming entertainment.

Netflix’s defining innovation – the binge — was built for an era when streaming was competing with traditional TV. Today, Netflix is competing with TikTok, YouTube, Reels, and various microdrama apps. That shift makes Netflix’s binge model feel like a dated relic from another era.

When Netflix first dropped an entire season of “House of Cards” in February 2013, it was a revelation. Ad-free, internet-connected TV meant we could be unshackled from the traditional routine of once-per-week shows punctuated by commercials. Instead, bingeable shows meant viewers could be entertained for hours on end, quickly forming a bond with titles and their characters that would have otherwise taken years to develop.

Plus, you could drop in on them at any time — not only the day the network decided to air them, as with linear television. This way of viewing made sense in a world where Netflix was largely still competing with traditional TV like broadcast, cable, and satellite. But Netflix won that fight.

Nielsen in June 2025 announced that the TV era reached a new milestone, when the Netflix-style streaming format for the first time eclipsed broadcast and cable viewing — a milestone that made clear Netflix’s original competition was no longer the threat. Now Netflix’s competition isn’t the TV of old, but what has become the TV of today: video apps. Thanks to the rise of TikTok, Reels, and other short-form video platforms, there’s no need for you to visit Netflix when you have a couple of hours to kill with mindless entertainment.

There’s an endless, free supply of video you can turn to instead. According to eMarketer analysts , TikTok was already nearing Netflix in terms of time spent back in 2024, when U.S. adults were spending an average of 62.1 minutes per day streaming from Netflix and 58.4 minutes per day on TikTok.

In 2024, the Financial Times reported that, globally, TikTok users spent an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, the highest engagement rate among major social networks. Then there is YouTube, which offers a combination of both short and longer-form content. Per a report released this year by Digital i , YouTube surpassed Netflix in average daily viewing for the first time, with 99.1 minutes daily in 2025 compared with Netflix’s 93.4 minutes.