By Jess Armstrong, EVP of Marketing, Upwave

Remember when you could binge-watch an entire season of a show in one sitting, only guilted off the couch by the “are you still watching?” prompt? Netflix, the king of binge, started it all with House of Cards, and by the early 2010s, almost every streaming service had hopped on the bandwagon, dropping entire seasons at once. Even before that, DVRs helped us catch up on shows we missed, the first steps of a binge-watching culture.

But for those of us old enough to remember TV before DVRs, there was Appointment TV—the thrill of waiting for your favorite show to air live. If you missed it, you were out of luck. No binge, no catch-up. You’d have to wait for reruns, buy the DVD box set months later, or hope your friend with a VCR hit record at the right time.

In entertainment, however, everything is cyclical. The episodic drop is making a comeback and, at the risk of sounding too Millennial, I’ve given it a new name: FOMO TV.

It’s not quite Appointment TV, since you can still watch whenever you want. But here’s the thing: FOMO TV thrives on one simple premise—the fear of missing out. In a world dominated by social media and (now virtual) water-cooler chats, if you’re not in on the latest episode, you’re not in on the conversation. Spoilers are a click or group chat away, and if you’re not prepared, the cultural moment will pass you by.

Shows across all streaming platforms, and geared towards all demographics, are adopting the one-episode-a-week model—Beast Games on Prime, Severance on Apple TV, The White Lotus on HBO, Yellowjackets on Showtime. The list goes on.

Platforms traditionally known for binge drops, like Netflix, have dialed back their approach. New seasons of The Great British Baking Show and Rhythm + Flow are being staggered out in weekly releases, while Love is Blind was dropping in batches, leaving viewers on edge for the next installment.

Streaming platforms owned by traditional broadcasters are in on it too, Traitors on Peacock and Paramount’s Land Man following suit. Even the linear counterparts are reaping the benefits of this cultural shift, with TV shows like Survivor pulling in viewers in real-time, or at least on the same day.

Why FOMO TV is Here to Stay

So, why are streaming services shifting back to weekly releases? One reason could be simple consumer desire: people are sick of binging. We overdid it during the pandemic, and now, the novelty’s wearing off. Another could be that spacing out episodes helps slow down customer churn—keeping audiences hooked for longer periods instead of binging and abandoning.

But whatever the motivation, FOMO TV isn’t just a win for these platforms and viewers—it’s an opportunity for advertisers. But, it raises some interesting questions about how to make it sustainable and valuable for all parties.

The questions FOMO TV raises for advertisers and streaming services

How do advertisers court this highly engaged audience?

Advertising in a FOMO-driven world requires a shift in creative strategy. Outside of some truly tentpole events and long-awaited shows (like Stranger Things), advertisers often run the same ads they run against other programming. Is that enough now, or should they make creative decisions related to the high-profile shows they’re advertising against?

If you’re advertising during an episode of White Lotus, don’t just throw in the same :30 spot. Why not tailor the ad to the show’s tone—vibrant, lush, and tropical-chic? Or, take a page from Kerastase Thermique, who partnered with actual talent from Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Lisa Barlow, in real-time after she organically recommended the product to her castmates on-air.

Should streaming services innovate on ad opportunities?

We’re still dealing with ad breaks from the pre-streaming world. Ads were fine when you were tuning in live to watch Friends on NBC in 1996, but when you’ve been waiting a week for the next episode of Paradise on Hulu in 2025, does a 90-second commercial break keep you in the moment?

Content providers should experiment more with the technology available to us today with quick interstitials, split-screen ads, takeovers, or even shoppable commerce opportunities. The goal is to break through the bubble in a way that feels engaging, not intrusive, and capitalizes on the attention being paid.

What, if anything, should change about how advertisers measure in a world of FOMO TV?

I’d be remiss (and probably in desire of missing out on the next meeting with my CEO) if I didn’t mention the role measurement plays in FOMO TV. Ideally, advertisers are investing in show(s) through the course of the season. If so, they should measure the impact of ads on brand KPIs like awareness and favorability over the entire season instead of fixating on any one episode.

The beauty of the episodic model is the long runway it offers advertisers to measure and optimize different creative strategies across multiple weeks. This kind of flexibility, paired with increasingly innovative measurement, provides the opportunity to maximize investment that the binge model didn’t offer.

The New (Old?) Normal Offers Opportunities for All

FOMO TV isn’t just a trend; it’s a shift in how we consume media. While binging isn’t completely gone, the landscape has changed. For advertisers and streaming services, this is a call to action, and just a start to the questions we should be asking. Everyone needs to adapt their strategies or fear being left behind…and missing out.