DC Studios animated series Creature Commandos releases episodes one at a time, and the rationale for that strategy provided by James Gunn makes plenty of sense. Creature Commandos is the first entry in Gunn’s unfolding DCU franchise under DC Studios, with the series releasing the first two of its seven episodes on December 2nd, and each episode after arriving weekly. Gunn himself has stated that going this route rather than a Netflix-style binge model was in the interest of keeping Creature Commandos in the public eye over an extended period of time.
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“Because it affords a quality show an opportunity to be discussed and grow from week to week.” Gunn stated on Twitter/X, in reply to a fan inquiring on why Creature Commandos hasn’t been released in its entirety all at once. “CC has gotten more popular from episode to episode because of the positive discussion around it and has cultivated an enthusiastic audience. If we had dropped all the episodes at once who knows what would have happened. I will likely always be in the one-a-week camp for our shows. For people who want to binge all at once they can wait until the end of the season.”
Gunn’s rationale for Creature Commandos‘ release model has certainly been borne out in the show’s overall positive reception and performance on Max, where it has consistently been in the top 10 TV shows on the streaming platform. Moreover, Gunn’s statement of releasing Creature Commandos weekly as opposed to dropping on Max in one singular package speaks to the double edged sword of the Netflix binge strategy.
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By dropping an entire season of a new streaming show, streaming platforms give their target audience something to spend an entire weekend enjoying in its entirety. Additionally, by releasing entire seasons of streaming shows this way, streaming platforms can capture the audience zeitgeist over an entire weekend and leading into the next week, not unlike the release of a major blockbuster in theaters. It’s a strategy that has definitely served Netflix well, but it also comes with its drawbacks.
Chief among them is that the binge model also gives new seasons of streaming shows a comparatively limited shelf life in how long they can dominate audience attention. Within a month, even the most popular of streaming shows don’t draw the kind of attention they do in their first weekend. However, releasing streaming shows one episode at a time over the course several weeks allows them to elongate their time in the spotlight, and even grow their audience significantly from the beginning of their run to the very end.
Ultimately, going with the weekly release model has been very much to the benefit of Creature Commandos. James Gunn‘s decision to do so and his stated commitment to it for future DCU shows is likely the best release strategy for them, so DC fans can likely upcoming series like Waller and Lanterns to follow the same model that has been so successful for Creature Commandos.
Creature Commandos releases new episodes every Thursday on Max.
