That’s the key I think is overlooked in the comments so far–the episodes are just a part of the entertainment offered. If the site doesn’t involve some sort of engagement (we’re in a blog format, so there’s comments like this!) then you’re artificially limiting yourself to TV-style audiences.

Look at Odd Jobs. Redleaf’s set up an entire community around the premise of his show (complete with job listings–by themselves a great revenue model), and I’m pretty sure it’s that community that lead to the show’s success. I’d be happy to be the next Odd Jobs.

Cheers for being the first Google result for “How often should I release episodes of my web series” by the way.

Roy

The idea of “should” seems at this point a bit antithetical, the unsaid suggestion being that viewers will leave and not come back, and that revenue is therefore being lost. We’re all still married to the idea of viewership volume, when we should be married to the idea of creating the best experience for the most interested viewers.

On broadcast TV, one eyeball is worth one eyeball, but online that one interested eyeball can make you more money than ten thousand uninterested eyeballs. People seem to be unable to grasp this idea; how many web series are being made nowadays because the producers think there’s a “big market” out there. This is how you make crap content. The producers end up twiddling their thumbs looking for a sign of approval from the marketplace.

Interested users will seek out the content, talk about it, tell their friends, click on ads, visit twice a day, buy the t-shirt, buy the DVD, and sign up for the newsletter to hear about the next series you make. Keep THEM happy, and stop worrying about the masses of uninterested users that will parade past the content.

The skill is in touching that interested viewer as soon as possible, and oftentimes it CAN be done before the first frame of the film even plays. They will not care how many episodes you launch with, they’ll be hooked.

The problem that people have in grasping this stems from the fact that most people who make web series have no love for web series and web videos and web content. They’re simply speculators, trying to cash in on this new fad. Oh sure, they use the web and watch web videos, but see no real value in it, and see their viewers either as herds of petty techno-hipsters or as porn-addicts they can ween towards mainstream entertainment.

I think that even with webisodic drama it’s wise to channel the ingrained ‘old TV’ soap-opera viewing habit; somehow “daily” is in our entertainment consuming DNA.

Another PromQueen ploy I really admired was the fact that 80 x 90 seconds added up to two hours, opening up a ‘long tail’ DVD monetization possibility.

I guess I think if its a series that you know has an ending, I want them all up at once. i.e. Plastic Island

If it’s a series that is ongoing, i’m up for waiting for it to air.

Although if you look at a show like iChannel, they launched with one very well done episode that went ‘viral’ and had everyone begging for more. If you’ve got a fantastic introduction episode, let it linger. And pray it goes huge.

News-type stuff, though – get a schedule and stick to it, right? I think bulking up with some content before launching is a good idea so when you run out of them, you won’t be sweating for new stuff.