The summer I turned binge-y
Planet Money
NPR
4.6 • 30.5K Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The strategy of releasing an entire season at the same time has been key to taking Netflix from a little startup that used to lend us DVDs in the mail … to a company so big and powerful, it is maybe going to buy Warner Brothers and own Bugs Bunny and Tony Soprano and the Harry Potter movies.
But even Netflix may be flirting with some slightly less binge-y models of content release. Are we entering … the end of the binge drop?
On our latest: what data tells us about binge watching. Was it the greatest business decision, and who does binge watching really benefit?
Here’s some of the research.
Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+
Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
This episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Meg Cramer. It was fact-checked by Dania Suleman and engineered by Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Planet Money from NPR. |
| 0:07.2 | Hey, it's Kenny Malone, and this episode is coming out on December 24th. |
| 0:14.8 | And so we hear Planet Money. |
| 0:16.8 | We would love to wish all of you who celebrate a very, very merry night before Stranger Things. |
| 0:26.2 | Tomorrow is Christmas, and Netflix is about to shovel like four hours of Stranger Things down our chimneys. |
| 0:33.2 | Now, I had hoped that for this final season, Netflix might consider taking each of these highly anticipated episodes that cost like $50 million a piece on average and then release them episode by episode, week by week. |
| 0:48.1 | But nope, Netflix is avalanching these directly onto the holidays, four episodes onto Thanksgiving, three on to Christmas, |
| 0:56.9 | and a two-hour final episode on New Year's Eve. And so that is why, I hope they're not listening |
| 1:03.6 | to this, I will be sneaking away in the middle of my in-laws Christmas festivities to binge watch |
| 1:09.3 | from what I've read like three hours and 52 minutes |
| 1:13.3 | of demigorgans and whatnot because if I wait, I may get spoiled. This is the world Netflix has |
| 1:20.4 | created. And it seems to be going great for them, you know, of the little startup that used to |
| 1:25.3 | lend us DVDs in the mail is now so big and powerful. |
| 1:29.0 | It is maybe going to buy Warner Brothers and own Bugs Bunny and Tony Soprano and the Harry Potter movies. |
| 1:36.8 | And the strategy of binge-dropping entire seasons of television has arguably built that Netflix. |
| 1:46.8 | Whalen Wong? |
| 1:47.5 | Hello. |
| 1:48.5 | What was the last show that you binge watched? |
| 1:51.5 | Technically, it was... |
| 1:54.8 | Oh, actually, I remember. |
| 1:56.5 | It was industry. |
| 1:58.6 | HBO drama. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.