Tradition indicated that Friday was Netflix’s launch day. The most ambitious productions with a more international profile were offered to the viewer at the time when weekend entertainment was being considered, copying the strategy of films in movie theaters. But the fantastic Shadow and Bone, one of its most epic bets, returns this Thursday with its second season. It is not an exception. The most ambitious American productions so far in 2023 are all opening on Thursdays, such as Ginny and Georgia, Those wonderful nineties, Girls5eva, Outer Banks, You, Sex/Life or Vikings: Valhalla. Thursdays, according to Netflix, are the new Fridays.
“On Netflix there are no rules, we always explore new formulas and give the subscriber the possibility to enjoy entertainment how and when they want,” they report from the platform. “There is no change in strategy,” they maintain. The launches, however, do signal a new tradition for US productions, which are often the most expensive productions on the service and the ones most likely to garner large audiences. You just have to see, for example, that Stranger things premiered all its seasons on Fridays, like Ozark or the series that served to consolidate the service in its home market, House of cards and Orange is the new black. One of the most notable recent exceptions was Wednesday which, of course, premiered on a Wednesday.
The change seems to obey different needs. On the one hand, Netflix’s volume of production and acquisitions lead them to distribute their content on different days of the week so that all releases do not coincide in the same 24 hours. For example, the main Spanish bets so far this year such as La chica de nieve or Hasta el cielo: la serie have had their release date on Friday. All the Times We Fall in Love deviated from this inertia, premiering on a Tuesday, so that Carlos Montero’s romantic comedy would coincide with Valentine’s Day.
On the other, in this way their productions do not compete directly with their main rivals in the United States. Yes, Apple TV, Disney or Amazon Prime Video are developing their own programming strategies with the intention of creating habits in their subscribers. And, by the way, by advancing the broadcast of series as consumed as You, Outer Banks or Ginny and Georgia, these productions have more options to give striking headlines at the audience level: as Netflix viewing data counts the hours watched between Monday and Sunday, the contents have 24 more hours to fatten the figures for the premiere.
Thus, it can be established that the platforms have been distributed over the days as follows. Monday is the broadcast day of the main HBO Max bets in Spain with examples such as Euphoria, Succession, La casa del dragón and The last of us. In case you need an additional launch day for the own bets produced from the HBO channel, the chosen day is Tuesday, as is clear from the current broadcast of Perry Mason with Matthew Rhys.
For Apple TV, the key days are two. While Ted Lasso wants to monopolize Wednesdays with the weekly broadcast of his episodes, bets like Unfiltered Therapy or A Defiant Future are broadcast on Fridays at the same weekly cadence. On Wednesday it coincides with the biggest proposals from Disney, which broadcasts both the episodes of original productions designed for the platform such as The Mandalorian or Willow as well as fictions produced within the media group such as Grey’s Anatomy or the seasons of critically acclaimed series such as The bear or Fleishman is in trouble. Of course, Mickey Mouse is also willing to experiment: last summer She-Hulk: She-Hulk Attorney aired on a Thursday, where it had less competition.
And, while Netflix occupies different days of the week, giving priority to Wednesdays for its American productions, Amazon Prime Video remains faithful to Friday as the launch day with series such as The Rings of Power, The Consultant, The Boys or the current Daisy Jones. and the Six. In the Iberian sphere, Atresplayer is clear on what day viewers have an appointment with the platform: Sunday when new episodes of projects such as Nacho, Cardo or Drag Race are broadcast.
This distribution of the days of the week and the ability of platforms such as Netflix, Apple TV or Disney to experiment with their launch strategies shows to what extent the avalanche of premieres forces them to look for gaps in the week so that their proposals can survive.
It is important to retain the viewer and create television appointments for them, but also not to coincide with rival productions that could torpedo the premieres. In the case of Netflix, the competition is even in-house: all the more reason to release Sombra y hueso this Thursday and so on Friday it will be Hasta el cielo who takes the headlines.
