CONTENT LONDON: This week’s International Drama Summit at C21’s Content London conference highlighted the backlash against algorithmic recommendation systems and binge viewing among the new streamers. Nico Franks reports.

HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly at Content London

While a host of brilliant dramas have no doubt played an important role, arguably the biggest factor in the ongoing boom the global scripted industry continues to enjoy has been technological advancement.

Specifically, the way the internet has allowed people to watch whole series on demand and data mining have allowed them to receive targeted recommendations, as pioneered by everyone’s favourite DVD-rental-company-turned-tech-giant, Netflix.

But at this year’s International Drama Summit, part of C21’s Content London conference, these two defining characteristics of Netflix – and the streaming revolution thus far – came under fire.

HBO Max’s Sarah Aubrey

Some of this criticism came from companies who, presumably a little irked after years of hearing how Netflix has been eating their lunch, were clearly relishing the chance to bite back, now that they have finally got their streaming ducks in a row.

Take WarnerMedia, which has been out in force at Content London this week ahead of the launch of its direct-to-consumer streamer HBO Max in the US next May and is on the hunt for more international drama to add to its line-up.

Kevin Reilly, president of TBS, TNT and truTV and chief content officer at HBO Max, discussed the latter’s new ‘Recommended by Humans’ feature. It’s easy to view this as a thinly disguised jab at streamers like Netflix and their infamous algorithms, and the feature’s name alone drew a laugh of recognition from the international audience of drama execs.

Indeed, there’s been no shortage of delegates and speakers at this year’s event complaining about the amount of time they waste searching for something to watch while in an on-demand environment.

Susan Kresnicka

“We don’t believe in the algorithm-based product, which is supposed to know you and where content is somewhat overwhelming to discover. You may sit there saying, ‘I have thousands of choices and I’m frozen trying to figure out what to watch next.’ That is a common refrain we hear,” said Reilly.

“Recommended by Humans is a quaint notion that we think has a lot of value. The machines haven’t taken over the world yet.”

Clearly, the “paradox of choice,” a term coined by American psychologist Barry Schwartz in 2004 about how too much choice can cause less happiness, less satisfaction and can even decision paralysis, is weighing heavy on the industry.

HBO Max is aiming to solve this problem with its new feature, which will see talent and influencers make recommendations to HBO Max users about content they love, in the form of short videos.

However, it is not necessarily the first streamer to pre-empt the backlash against the mysterious algorithm. Anyone familiar with Walter Presents, the foreign-language drama company backed by Channel 4 in the UK, will be familiar with this tactic, as the streamer’s curator, Walter Iuzzolino, is called on to espouse the latest scripted import from Italy or Brazil.

Walter Presents curator Walter Iuzzolino this week

HBO Max is also distinguishing itself from the first wave of streamers by reverting to the relatively old-fashioned model of making episodes of a new series available on a weekly basis. But only after they’ve got you hooked with an initial launch of two or three episodes.

“Our research has shown that after three episodes people have decided if they want to watch and you’ve got your hooks in them. Then we’ll give them the remaining episodes weekly,” said Sarah Aubrey, HBO Max’s head of original content.

“We think it’s better for building culture and having impact. The downside to binging is it tends to commodify what we do for a living,” added Reilly.

Who knows, this drive to try and generate more co-viewing on a macro scale might just help heal some of the wounds we currently see in society.

If that feels a little over the top, earlier this week at Content London anthropologist Susan Kresnicka said a lack of shared cultural experiences, partly driven by the rise in on-demand viewing and the explosion in the number of series available, is contributing to social and political division.

“We have fewer opportunities for shared meaning,” said Kresnicka, adding that platforms that connect the largest groups of people with the same content will be the most successful in future.

Disney+’s The Mandalorian will be released weekly

It definitely feels like, with more shows being made available than ever in a schedule-free environment online, fewer people are watching and talking about the same shows at the same time, while the anticipation created by a weekly release strategy can go AWOL when every episode is there to begin with.

HBO Max is following the lead of other new streamers, such as Disney+ and Apple TV+, in following this model, with the two launching their high-end scripted content, such as Star Wars series The Mandalorian and sci-fi drama See, respectively, in weekly instalments.

Of course, a show as high-profile as The Mandalorian is always going to be talked about, particularly after its major character reveal at the end of its first episode. Not everyone has a franchise as big as Star Wars to mine, however.

For years we heard at conferences such as these that broadcasters-turned-platforms needed to give audiences ‘want they want, when they want it.’

But it’s become clear to the second wave of streamers that what plenty of the audience wants is more personalised recommendations and linear TV’s old-fashioned weekly release model can help a show to break through the clutter.

Oh, and a new incarnation of a familiar character that instantly becomes a pop culture phenomenon, with countless memes (spoiler alert!) like this one going viral on Twitter, doesn’t hurt either.