## 7. The economics have changed what gets made
Binge culture created a specific commercial incentive: hook subscribers and keep them subscribed, rather than keeping them tuned in week to week. This incentivized front-loaded prestige, high-production-value pilots designed to justify a subscription, rather than slower-building television that weekly schedules allowed to develop over multiple seasons.
It also contributed to shows being cancelled after one or two seasons regardless of quality, since a show that successfully hooked subscribers in its first season but didn’t generate new subscriptions in its second was commercially less valuable than a new show that could attract fresh subscribers.
## What binge watching revealed about television all along
The most interesting thing about how binge watching changed television is what it revealed about why people watched in the first place. Streaming removed habit and scarcity simultaneously, which forced shows to compete purely on whether someone actually wanted to watch them, not just whether they happened to be on.
Binge watching didn’t create better or worse television. It revealed more clearly which television was actually worth watching, and changed what that revelation costs both creators and viewers in the process.