Film & TV Writer Izzy Lee discusses media consumption in an attention economy created by social media, and how spoilers for content has turned into a marketing strategy
At the time I’m writing this, it’s hard to turn on my phone to any social media site and not see some fan theory, ‘Spoiler Free!’ review or scene clip from the latest season of Stranger Things. It was released in three parts on the 26th of November, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve of 2025, notably dominating the latter part of the social calendar. Now, I personally have this thing where the more someone tells me something needs to be watched immediately, the less likely I am to watch it until maybe two months down the line (I’ve started Fallout to fill the streaming gap this choice left me with and boy is it good). But the thing I’ve noticed in recent months is that it has become increasingly hard to watch a show casually– aka not at the second it is released– and not be flooded with an onslaught of spoilers as soon as a show airs. It was always common that fan sites and reddit communities would have these discussions, but it always required active searching. However, it has recently become the case that media sites have taken to spoiling major plot points of shows on the day of their release – even media sites like Variety who aren’t directly linked to the show. They’ve become unavoidable. [..] what happened to protecting the experience of a truly compelling story, with all its twists and turns?
In the era of streaming services, viewers have become divided into conflicting camps – those who watch shows on release, those who wait for all parts to release in order to binge, and those who watch a show casually. However, the longer you wait nowadays, the less it feels like you are a dedicated consumer of the content. What happened to the days where franchises like Marvel muted their comment sections for a week following the release of a new movie, to oppose spoilers being posted within days (see the ‘*New Avengers’ Thunderbolts* Marketing)? Of course showbusiness is exactly that – a business – but what happened to protecting the experience of a truly compelling story, with all its twists and turns? After waiting sometimes years between series, there is something about being required to watch it dead on release that feels quite deflating – I’ve waited years for you but you won’t wait a single day for me, even on Christmas? The decision to release a show in volumes or parts is obvious from a marketing standpoint. It allows multiple media cycles, builds buzz in-between instalments and it’s great for social media algorithms; in short, it makes money. Even product merch is plastered with major plot points, and placed in stores on the day of release, allowing its wearers to tell the world ‘I was part of this cultural moment, I know what this means, do you?’. Spoilers are no longer an accidental thing, but rather a marketing strategy.
In a way though, it also says something quite sad about our attention spans. Shows simply don’t do weekly releases anymore. We have too much content, and as such that feeling of a truly collective viewing experience is hard to come by. The choice to do a limited release of the final episode of Stranger Things in select cinemas did somewhat help with this but this group was exclusive. As such, the only way shows can wish to achieve this is through the creation of trending cultural moments. People crave instant hits of dopamine, and respond better to short form content with the guarantee of gratification than the promise there will be something worth waiting for after watching about eight hours of content. By spoiling key plot points and condensing them to short 30 second clips for social media accounts, media producers can hook a captive audience and with it issue a subtle ultimatum – watch our show, or we’ll show it to you, whether you like it or not. [..] media producers can hook a captive audience and with it issue a subtle ultimatum – watch our show, or we’ll show it to you, whether you like it or not.
With Netflix in the running to buy Warner Bros., this new marketing strategy could equally spell trouble for cinema as we know it. I fear shorter theatrical releases and far less mystery. The nice thing about cinema is the ability for complete suspension of disbelief with phones off, lights down and the ability to completely lose yourself in a story. However, in a world in which digital capital is everything, it can only be a matter of time before this too becomes simply a series of marketable beats that can be packaged into bite-sized clips with the capability to trend. Whilst media was always dictated by the economic factor, it feels as if this has taken precedence over the sanctity of the art as something to be truly experienced, and to me that is a real loss for us all.
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