It’s no secret that network TV has disrupted the traditional TV model, ushering in an era where broadcast networks have had to scramble to adapt. In one change, network TV has borrowed a page from its streaming competitors, moving to the short, 10-episode season model common with streaming. Often launching midseason, the hope is that, with no competition from full-season network shows for their first few episodes, series debuting during the traditional holiday break will have a better chance at gaining an audience.

The other hope with copying streaming’s shorter season model is that network TV shows will do a better job of competing with streaming. Ten episodes make for snappier – and cheaper – seasons. The problem, however, is that TV networks are still missing the reason that streaming’s shorter seasons are so successful – and it doesn’t have to do with their length.

Networks Have Started Copying Streaming’s Short Seasons

Over the past few years, networks have gradually shifted to an all-or-nothing model, where new TV series are either given a green light or rejected outright. The practice is not yet the standard, but it’s on the rise. In a now-common deal, networks will often launch untested original series with 10- or 13-episode freshman seasons. It’s a way to split the difference between a pilot and committing to a full, traditional season of 20-24 episodes.

There might have been a time when networks would have rolled the dice on two dozen episodes and given new shows a season or two to find their footing. In the competitive era of racing to attract the attention of audiences with less time than they once had and shorter attention spans, however, networks are now hesitant to commit to investing so much time and money into a series that isn’t a guaranteed immediate success.

On paper, it makes sense. Times are tough, and the COVID pandemic and writers’ and actors’ strikes continue to upend Hollywood. Everyone is fighting for the attention, and the wallets, of potential viewers who, in the current economic downturn, are becoming increasingly judicious about where they spend their money.

Networks are also tightening their belt, now quick to ax shows that aren’t immediate hits. The cancellation scythe is even coming for bubble shows that, just a few years ago, would have been given another season to succeed or fail. Budgets are the same, and more networks are now only committing to pay for 10- or 13-episode launch seasons. However, this strategy may very well backfire on broadcast networks in the long run.

Network TV’s Short Seasons Are Failing To Account For Streaming’s Big Budgets

Short, 10-episode seasons may be more budget-friendly for networks, but that’s exactly why they still can’t compete with streamers. What makes streaming platforms’ 10-episode (or eight, or six) seasons so successful isn’t their brevity; it’s their budget. Streamers have deep pockets, and they put them to good use with their original scripted series.

Streaming shows strive for cinematic quality in their production, a standard that network shows have yet to hit – and likely never will, due to their financials and revenue streams being completely different. It’s not uncommon for the full season of a popular streaming series to have the huge budget of a blockbuster movie, which enables them to have higher-quality productions.

Netflix granted Stranger Things season 4 a budget of around $30 million per episode; Amazon purchased the global TV rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise for a massive $250 million budget. The Disney+ MCU shows average $25 million per episode. While a cable channel, not streaming, HBO famously shelled out over half a billion dollars on Game of Thrones over its eight seasons.

That’s not to say that broadcast TV hasn’t ever invested in its shows – but only ones that have an established history and juggernaut franchise success. By the end of its run, The Big Bang Theory‘s final season cost $10 million per episode, an eye-popping amount for a network TV show. At a full season of 24 episodes, the total production budget of The Big Bang Theory season 12 was $240,000,000, a nearly unheard-of number for broadcast network TV.

The same can not be said for most network TV shows, particularly those in their first few seasons. The average hour-long broadcast drama costs between $3-6 million per episode (via Parrot Analytics), and new, unproven series may cost even less. That doesn’t change for network television’s growing slate of 10-13-episode shows, either.

Network TV Is Misunderstanding The Appeal Of Both Streaming Series & Network Shows

The problem is that network TV may be shortchanging itself by not putting a little more into these short seasons. If a series has a truncated episode count without streaming’s budget to match, then it often ends up simply becoming a TV show that doesn’t have enough time to tell its story, leading to dissatisfied viewers.

Network TV no longer gives series time to find their audiences, and the number of series being canceled after just one or two seasons grows by the year. It’s hard not to notice that more than a few of those short-lived series were launched with short first seasons. It certainly could be that the series just weren’t very good, leading to their short series order in the first place.

It could also be argued that, if those short seasons weren’t going to be given big budgets to make it worth an audience’s time, then perhaps giving them full season orders would have helped them succeed. Even recent successful midseason launches, such as High Potential and Tracker, are not without their flaws, flaws that can be traced back to the brevity of their short seasons. Both shows are now suffering from the fact that none of the characters, aside from the protagonist, are fleshed out, and audiences are noticing.

With these short season orders, broadcast networks seem to misunderstand why audiences watch both streaming series and network shows. Streaming offers cinema-quality stories in short bursts, while broadcast TV offers mid-budget comfort shows in which one can be immersed for months. Unfortunately, with the current approach of making shorter seasons while keeping the same low budget, network TV is failing at both aspects that make streaming and network great.