When Less Is More: Content Strategies for Subscription Video on Demand

We examine how the release strategy of shows influences user engagement and subscription rates at a video-on-demand platform, using results from a randomized field trial. Although releasing all episodes at once attracts more consumers to the platform when shows premiere, a gradual (Drip) release schedule fosters more platform engagement and content exploration. In our empirical context, users in the Drip release group were 48% more likely to continue using the platform compared with those who received content all at once. The effectiveness of each release strategy depends on the viewing preferences of consumers. Although most users benefited from the Drip release, its impact diminished for extreme binge watchers. Our findings suggest that release strategies play an important role in the success of a subscription video-on-demand platform. We provide real-world evidence that gradually releasing content increases consumer searches, triggering substantially higher subscription rates. Our results help rationalize why content distributors are returning to drip-style release schedules, diverging from the all-at-once strategy popularized by Netflix in 2013.

History: Catherine Tucker served as the senior editor.

Funding: M. Godinho de Matos and S. Mamadehussene were supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [Grant PTDC/EGE-OGE/27968/2017]. M. Godinho de Matos was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [Grant UID/GES/00407/2020]. M. Godinho de Matos and P. Ferreira were partially funded by Carnegie Mellon University’s Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics, which receives unrestricted (gift) funding from the Motion Picture Association of America, the industry partner that provided the data to support this research.

Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2023.0106.