Originally posted in the other thread -
As we veer off topic, the point isn’t how popular the show is - it’s how does someone get paid to make it. If there was a way to recoup the costs of production and make a decent profit with just a single viewer - the show would be made for that just that one guy.
But, the reality for the people who make tv is that too few advertisers are willing to pay for you to binge watch (in fact, unless you’re one of the people paying 3.99 or more per episode, you’re not willing to pay for you to binge watch, so why on earth would an advertiser?)
Until we get a change to companies becoming willing to pay for binge watchers or we move to a pay-per-episode, pay-per-season, or pay-per-service model, shows that people will only watch in binges get cancelled because there’s no money to produce the show. In contrast, shows that people will watch every week will tend to continue.
Pointing out that binge-watching contributes to shows getting cancelled isn’t a moral judgment or a value judgment, it’s just pointing out the consequence of an action.