Netflix is losing its binge-watching model to social media?
- By Shargeel Sheikh -
- Jul 16, 2026
The reality of any industry is that no matter how much bigger a player is, there comes a time when a new player makes an advent and steals the show. That new player is unique. It does the business in a new way. It hops onto what the bigwigs have been missing. The new player has unmatched insights it could cash on, and it does. And before we all know it, there’s a new winning business in town. In today’s world of rapid AI and media, the scale to which this has been happening is astounding. We see businesses come and go, rise and fall in times less than our next birthday. Today’s writing is about Netflix, the company we talk good and bad about, but we can’t ignore. That company lies in danger.
In 2013 when Netflix released it’s the House of Cards series; it was a hit. The reasons weren’t only the storyline and casting, it was also how it was all released: 1 full fledge season published with all its episodes, ready to be devoured all at once.
This was the rise of binge-watching. And it was brilliant back in the day. A growing number of people were being frustrated by waiting for each weekend for their series next episode.
It was the waiting part that was turned people away from the traditional TV method and pivoted them towards binge-watching.
For Netflix it was awesome at the time. It helped the now media giant in accumulate cult following around its shows which was now within days. Before it would take months for shows and movies to develop that form of loyal fandom.
Recently, a study from Bloomberg revealed more and more people abandoning Netflix seasons. There were no clear reasons for that, but the media experts point out to some of the following things they’ve been observing around Netflix shows:
- There’s a large gap of time between two seasons of any shows aired on Netflix. This has been a source of waning hype among viewers.
- Netflix has a habit of cancelling shows while they are already streaming.
- The content in the shows is more towards promoting specific agendas than actually making it of quality.
The binge-watching model Netflix has been reeling for years is now finally coming back to bite it. And there’s another growing threat: Social Media.
Social Media Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have seen rise in short form content that people tend to watch more than Netflix series.
YouTube is another giant platform rivalling Netflix by offering a wide range of short form and long form content that consumers find it better to consume.
And these social media platforms are offering an easy access without leaving their platforms for users. Nowadays, micro-dramas and mini series have been blowing up on theses platforms. And often time they are free and easy to access.
Paid short form content apps such as ReelShort and DramaBox have seen a growing popularity among global audiences. These apps feature drama series with each episode ranging around 1 min length. PineDrama is another application of such nature introduced by TikTok to cash in increasing demand.
When audiences are so much steeped into such micro content, they are less likely to display interest into new Netflix seasons or shows.
A report from eMarketer in 2024 started highlighting a spike of people spending more time on TikTok than on Netflix because of the endless supply of content on the former.
YouTube surpassed Netflix for the first time in average daily viewing minutes per user, according to a report by British company Digital I. Netflix fell to 93.4 in 20205 from 100.5 in 2024. YouTube on the other hand 99.1 in 2025 from 87.2 in 2024.
The best move Netflix could pull off was actually introducing a TikTok looking section on its platform in order to give viewers a glimpse of its shows without them having to watch the whole episodes.
Also, the signing of various company deals in order to become a podcast giant has shown no results for now.
Netflix has been left at a point where it was left back in 2013: to reimagine and rethink its whole model. Only this time, the competition is tougher. And only time will tell whether it can pull of another move like it did back in 2013.