Netflix: Binge Watching is the New Normal

LOS GATOS: Harris Interactive has conducted a survey on behalf of Netflix among some 1,500 online U.S. adults who stream TV shows and found that binge watching is common behavior among this group, with 61 percent saying they watch back-to-back episodes on a regular basis.

A majority (73 percent) defined binge watching as viewing between two to six episodes of the same TV show in one sitting. Nearly three quarters of TV streamers (73 percent) say they have positive feelings towards binge streaming TV and feel good about doing it.

To better understand why binge watching has become such a cultural phenomenon, Netflix worked with cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken to trace the evolution of binge watching and, more importantly, to explore how and why binge watching television is resonating with viewers. McCracken went into the living rooms of several TV viewers across the U.S. and Canada to explore their changing TV behaviors.

"I found that binge watching has really taken off due to a perfect storm of better TV, our current economic climate and the digital explosion of the last few years," said McCracken. "But this TV watcher is different, the couch potato has awoken. And now that services like Netflix have given consumers control over their TV viewing, they have declared a new way to watch."

"Our viewing data shows that the majority of streamers would actually prefer to have a whole season of a show available to watch at their own pace," commented Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer of Netflix. "Netflix has pioneered audience choice in programming and has helped free consumers from the limitations of linear television. Our own original series are created for multi-episodic viewing, lining up the content with new norms of viewer control for the first time." 

McCracken believes that today's digital lifestyle, largely dominated by bite-sized bits of information, leaves viewers craving the kind of long narrative of storytelling in TV shows nowadays. "TV viewers are no longer zoning out as a way to forget about their day, they are tuning in, on their own schedule, to a different world. Getting immersed in multiple episodes or even multiple seasons of a show over a few weeks is a new kind of escapism that is especially welcomed today," he added.