Report: 80% of Consumers are Binge Viewing

SUWANEE: Binge viewing, second-screen purchasing, DVR usage and multiscreen/room consumption are on the rise, according to the ARRIS 2014 Consumer Entertainment Index.

The latest index finds that broadcast TV remains the staple of in-home entertainment, at a nearly universal 96 percent penetration rate. The majority of consumers are engaged in binge viewing, with 80 percent now reporting watching multiple TV episodes or even an entire season in one sitting; 14 percent admit to binge viewing at least once a day.

There's a growing aversion to traditional TV advertising, according to ARRIS. The report finds that 60 percent of consumers record entertainment to skip the ads. However, this is opening up the door for multiscreen merchandising, as 17 percent of consumers use secondary devices to purchase products featured on the programs they watch.

ARRIS also examines the new implications for multiscreen and multi-room viewing. Around the world, the living room remains the most popular room for TV watching, while 41 percent of tablet owners now use their tablets in the bedroom to watch entertainment.

Sandy Howe, the senior VP of global marketing at ARRIS, commented: "The rapid growth of mobile devices, increasing reach of high-speed broadband networks, and ease of content access is reshaping the way people engage with entertainment. Consumers now expect entertainment on their terms—control over what they watch, when and where they watch it.

"Our Consumer Entertainment Index found that consumers express these expectations in the ways they engage with entertainment in the home. We've found a healthy appetite for traditional forms of entertainment, like broadcast TV, and this serves as the foundation for new ways of consuming that content—like multiscreen, multi-room, and binge-viewing. Meanwhile, we're seeing an uptick in conversion on second-screen merchandising. These trends underscore an opportunity for service providers to offer more personalized services and program-related content that address this shift in engagement."

ARRIS's Consumer Entertainment Index is an independent study of global media consumption habits, surveying 10,500 consumers from 19 countries. The study tracks engagement with various components of the entertainment experience—including multiscreen, advertising and DVR—to offer insight into the trends that are driving the evolution of content consumption.