Disney+ Will Release Weekly Episodes Of Its Streaming Shows Instead Of Using The Binge Model

Disney+ is positioning itself as a major competitor to Netflix, but one question we've had for months is how the new streaming service will make its episodes available for consumption. Will they copy the Netflix model, releasing entire seasons at once for maximum bingeability? Or will they choose a method more akin to something like Hulu, where only one episode of a series is released per week?

Now we have the answer. Here's what we know so far.

According to TVLine, Disney+ shows will be released once per week instead of a full season dropping all at once.

Earlier this week, during the announcement of the One Day at Disney feature documentary, coffee table book, and subsequent streaming series, a press release informed us that the project would kick off with a feature length movie and then "more than 50 One Day at Disney shorts, ranging in length between 4 to 7 minutes long and each profiling a single remarkable person and their fascinating job, will debut each week." But because of the short-form nature of those episodes (which actually sounds like something that would be on Quibi), we still weren't sure if that meant that Disney+ as a whole would adopt the "one episode per week" approach.

Now it sounds like that's going to be the case for all of the original shows across the entire platform. TVLine says that some people are already seeing this as a "cash grab" decision by Disney, essentially forcing people to stay subscribed for longer periods instead of being able to sign up, binge full seasons, and drop out like some have done with services like CBS All Access.

But frankly, I'm happy this is the way they've chosen to go. Dropping entire seasons at once has drastically altered the way we talk about television, and I relished the experiences of watching major shows like Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks: The Return week to week, giving us a breather between episodes and some time to digest the art on an episodic basis instead of cramming an entire season in a weekend and instantly moving on to the next thing.

You can read much more Disney+ coverage from D23 by clicking here.