Bingewatch Awards: Best Show to Bingewatch results = fandoms assemble!

The power of fandoms is one of the most impressive things on Earth. We’ve seen this first hand with our Bingewatch Awards. Since the beginning of August, we’ve received a whopping 132,385 votes and counting. All the fandoms have made their voices heard about the shows they love so much.

In the Best Show to Bingewatch award category, we saw an amazing initial result with The OA and Shadowhunters tying at the end of the second round. We saw incredible unity between fandoms with groups such as the Earpers (fans of Wynonna Earp) and Lucifans (fans of Lucifer) coming together to support their fandom brothers & sisters in the final voting.

We know you’re all anxious to find out who did come out on top – whether The OA or Shadowhunters took the crown. But no matter what the final result may say, the way all the fandoms came together over this poll should be honored. You all fought tirelessly for your show, to bring together something special, and that should be celebrated!

So without further ado, this year’s Best Show to Bingewatch winner is Shadowhunters with the Shadowfam accounting for 54% of the final vote to The OA’s 46%! 

Congratulations to all the fandoms for all the hard work you put into voting. But the fight isn’t over – it’s just begun. We need to work together to fight in the real war. It’s us vs. them; we need to free our shows from the clutches of the powers that control them to get them back on air. These results are not an end; they’re merely the beginning. Fandoms, are you ready to assemble? Who’s with us?

This is not the end of the fight 

These stats show that these shows are important to people and still have big fandoms around to support future seasons. The numbers are just as important as those dumb Nielsen ratings that networks look at for shows, because it shows the longevity of the fandoms even after show meet an untimely end.

What makes the Bingewatch Awards poll numbers even more important is how fandoms came to support other fandoms in their times of need. When Lucifer and Wynonna Earp got knocked out of the voting in the earlier rounds, we saw Lucifans and Earpers help the Shadowfam and the Sixth Movement take the top two spots in the poll. 

We saw the same when Lucifer initially got the axe from Fox and the Shadowfam stepped up to help Lucifans fight for their show to be revived somewhere else.

Why fandom matters

Your favorite show may not have won this poll, but don’t take that as a loss. Instead, consider it a chance to find a new ally in the fight to save your show. So many of the shows that were part of the Best Show to Bingewatch poll are shows that fans are fighting for. This is the perfect opportunity to reach out to your fellow fandoms and find common ground to lift each other up. 

At the end of the day, you’re fighting for the same cause: to get your TV show back on air. This is why it’s a great idea to team up and fight together for them. We’re stronger together and can be a louder voice if we team up to help each other collectively.

Experienced fighters can help the newbies

Santa Clarita Diet just caught the axe from Netflix in April of this year. Fans of the show are relatively new to the world of fighting for cancelled shows, so they may need some help rallying together. The Shadowfam has been fighting for Shadowhunters for a while and can easily guide the newly dead Santa Clarita Diet fandom on what to do to make their voices heard.

Those who have had their shows saved can give advice to those struggling 

Lucifer was lucky enough to get picked up by Netflix for two additional seasons after getting sent back to hell by Fox. Lucifans fought hard to get their show back on the air and won, so they can take the key skills that helped make their voices heard and help the Clockblockers get Timeless back on the air. 

Earpers who dealt with Wynonna Earp being stuck in production hell can give tips to Gotham fans struggling with production issues between DC & Fox. After helping convince the showrunners to work out the issues behind the scenes, Earpers have some tips to help fans get Gotham a chance to get the two seasons promised by Fox.

Teaming up = Larger numbers

The whole point of these campaigns is to show how large the fanbase for these shows is. Each show has quite the large fanbase to begin with (see how we have multiple fan interview articles for both Whiskey Cavelier and Shadowhunters), but what if we could make those already large numbers even bigger?

By combining the strength of multiple fandoms, the collective voice for each TV show becomes exponentially larger than it already is. This would leave a bigger impact on the cast and crew of the show, but more importantly, the network or streaming platform that gave the show the axe in the first place. There truly is strength in numbers. 

Develop unique campaigns through collaboration 

Putting our heads together to come up with campaigns will result in more creative campaigns that leave a bigger impact. Although within each fandom there’s a variety of different people with different skill sets, there’s even more variety of ideas when you combine different fandoms. 

Nearly every fandom has sent stuff to the executives at the network or streaming service that aired their show, and both Shadowhunters and Whiskey Cavalier fans have paid for sky banners promoting their shows. Just imagine what kind of creative campaigns you can create for your show if you team up with one of the other fandoms! 

Unfortunately, at times it may seem as if you cannot team up with other fandoms because you are in competition with each other. The thought is that streaming services and networks only possess so many slots to save TV shows – so fandoms must prove their show is worth it over others. 

Such fans are misled. Your enemy is not other fandoms, but the streaming service and network executives behind the decision to screw your show over in the first place. 

The true enemy

Your enemy is not each other. When One Day at a Time was saved from cancellation, we saw other fandoms show their love and support for the show being saved. Your enemy is the platforms that cut your show and refuse to shop it around to other networks. 

And the truly biggest enemy is Netflix, who is currently the most guilty of not only cutting great shows, but choosing to keep producing 20-year-old shows that appeal to less than half of their subscribers, based on demographic information from 2018. 

While shows like The OA, Sense8, One Day at a Time, all the Marvel shows, Santa Clarita Diet, Tuca & Bertie, and plenty more get the axe even though they have large support and a great presence online, don’t forget Netflix dropped $100 million on keeping Friends for the 3 people that still bingewatched it. 

Netflix has made it clear that all they care about is money. They may be willing to produce these great Originals that push the envelope, but they do nothing to market the shows, merely throwing them up on their platform and letting algorithms & fandoms do their job for them. They’ve also made it abundantly clear they aren’t looking to nurture new audiences, but rather appease old audiences – very old audiences.

Yesterday, we heard Seinfeld had been acquired by Netflix for global transmission on the platform. While we love anything that Larry David has for us, we can’t help but think that Netflix is barking up the wrong tree with their content offering. Instead of leaning into the youth market, Netflix is targeting octogenarians with purchase after misguided purchase.

For all these reasons, it’s time to hurt Netflix in the right way: by cancelling your Netflix account.

If you really want to do something to stand up for your show, #CancelNetflix. We know this is a hard decision for some of you since many of your shows are on Netflix exclusively. But if you truly want to make your voice heard, hurt Netflix in the place that matters: their wallet. 

Cancel your Netflix membership and fill out their handy-dandy contact form to make it clear why you refuse to support them. There are other options for streaming services out there. You don’t have to give your money to a corporation that chooses to ignore you. Don’t let Netflix continue to walk all over you, treating your voice as if it doesn’t matter.

This poll is something worth showing the networks to prove how significant your show still is, even after cancellation. But don’t let this be the end of the fight. There’s strength in numbers, and you can get your social media interactions trending more often if you team up with other fandoms. Fight together, because all of these shows are great, and deserve a second chance in the spotlight.

Help us help you

We’re here to provide support and concrete numbers to our shared goals. Over the past year, we’ve been publishing articles about fandoms as they fight for their shows. Guess what? We’ve got every single Twitter impression, Facebook like, article click, and engagement recorded for prosperity. 

We’re going to work with the fandoms to collate all this information info an easily digestible presentation we can share with the networks. We stand with all the cancelled shows. Here are our current action points for our Save campaigns:

1. Share this article within your community.
2. Share other articles relating to your show within your community.
3. Keep turning new people onto your show.
4. If we haven’t featured your favorite (recent) cancelled show, reach out to us and tell us about your show and your fandom.
5. If you run a social media account, fan site, fandom group, or are a fandom writer and want to share metrics with us, please reach out and we’ll discuss the best format in which to share them.
6. Send us anything you think we should see: petitions, fandom groups, convention images.
7. If you run a convention and you have metrics you’d like us to include, reach out.
8. Keep sharing relevant content you want us to retweet by tagging us @FilmDailyNews on Twitter.
9. Keep voting in our polls. All votes will be recorded, shared, and presented.
10. If you’d like to work with us in a more formal way on our SAVE campaigns, get in touch.
11. Give yourself a big pat on the back. We got this!