Binge-watching

Binge-watching, also called binge-viewing or marathon-viewing, is the practice of watching content (TV, streaming services, etc.) for a long time span, usually a single television show. In a survey conducted by Netflix in February 2014, 73% of people define binge-watching as "watching between 2-6 episodes of the same TV show in one sitting."[1] Researchers have argued that binge-watching should be defined based on the context and the actual content of TV show.[2]

Netflix streaming on a monitor in a room

Binge-watching as an observed cultural phenomenon has become popular with the rise of video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Video, and Hulu through which the viewer can watch television shows and movies on-demand.[3][4][5] For example, 61% of the Netflix survey participants said they binge-watch regularly.[1] Recent research based on video-on-demand data from major US video streaming providers shows that over 64% of the customers binged-watched once during a year.[2]

History

The word's usage was popularized with the advent of on-demand viewing and online streaming. In 2013, the word burst into mainstream use to describe the Netflix practice of releasing seasons of its original programs simultaneously, as opposed to the industry standard model of releasing episodes on a weekly basis.[6][5]

In November 2015, the Collins English Dictionary chose the word "binge-watch" as the word of the year.[7]

Cultural impact

Actor Kevin Spacey used the 2013 MacTaggart Lecture to implore television executives to give audiences "what they want when they want it. If they want to binge, then we should let them binge". He claimed that high-quality stories will retain audience's attention for hours on end, and may reduce piracy,[8] although millions still download content illegally. Binge-watching "complex, quality TV" such as The Wire and Breaking Bad has been likened to reading more than one chapter of a novel in one sitting, and is viewed by some as a "smart, contemplative way" of watching TV.[9]

ITV Director of Television Peter Fincham warned that binge-watching erodes the "social value" of television as there are fewer opportunities to anticipate future episodes and discuss them with friends.[10]

Research conducted at the University of Texas at Austin found binge watching television is correlated with depression, loneliness, self-regulation deficiency, and obesity. "Even though some people argue that binge-watching is a harmless addiction, findings from our study suggest that binge-watching should no longer be viewed this way," the authors conclude.[11] Cases of people being treated for “binge watching addiction” have already been reported.[12]

Research published by media scholar, Dr. Anne Sweet, Ph.D., underlines that binge-watching is a form of compulsive consumption, similar to binge-eating, or binge-drinking, and that due to its addictive aspects, it could even represent a form of TV addiction.[13][14] These findings were problematized by Pittman and Steiner (2019), who found that "the degree to which an individual pays attention to a show may either increase or decrease subsequent regret, depending on the motivation for binge-watching."[15]

Research conducted by media scholar Dr. Emil Steiner, Ph.D., at Rowan University isolated five motivations for binge-watching (catching up, relaxation, sense of completion, cultural inclusion, and improved viewing experience). The author concludes that while compulsiveness is possible, most binge-viewers have an ambivalent relationship with the nascent techno-cultural behavior.[16] Furthermore, he argues that the negotiation of control in binge-watching is changing our understanding of television culture.[17]

Research conducted by Technicolor lab in 2016 found that a binge-watching session does increase the probability of another binge-watching session in the near future. In the meantime, the majority of people will not immediately have another binge-watching session. This indicates that binge-watching is not a consistent behavior for real-world video-on-demand consumers.[2]

Finishing a new season of a show within 24 hours of its release has become common. According to a 2018 survey of adult TV watchers, 29% reported having done so. Among those aged 18-29, the number increases to 51%.[18]

Attentiveness and mood

A 2019 study by Dr. Matthew Pittman of the University of Tennessee and Dr. Emil Steiner of Rowan University examined how attentiveness affected viewer experience and post-binge regret. "The survey (N = 800) determined that the degree to which an individual pays attention to a show may either increase or decrease subsequent regret, depending on the motivation for binge-watching."[15] But simply watching shows that demand more attention is not enough to moderate post-binge regret. Their subsequent research found that viewers who planned their binge-watching ahead of time were more likely to choose shows that aligned with their motives for watching — relaxing comedies, riveting dramas, nostalgic favorites. Such planning improved "viewer engagement, resulting in improved emotional outcomes."[19]

Effects on sleep

A 2017 study linked binge-watching to a poorer sleep quality, increased insomnia and fatigue.[20][21] In fact, binge-watching could lead to an increased cognitive alertness, therefore impacting sleep.[20] The results showed that 98 percent of binge-watchers were more likely to have poor sleep quality, were more alert before sleep and reported more fatigue. Authors also emphasize that findings have been inconsistent in sleep research regarding the negative associations between sleep and television viewing, and that it should be distinguished from binge-watching.[20]

Effects on advertising

A 2016 study found that, overall, viewers who tend to binge-watch are less responsive to advertising than viewers who do not. The effectiveness of advertising declines the longer a viewing session goes on.[22] Researchers attribute this phenomenon to the disruption caused by ads. Binge-watchers want to remain immersed in what they are watching. They do not want to be forced back into the real world.[23]

In 2019, Hulu introduced a new ad format for binge-watchers. A brand runs ads during the first and second episodes of a binge-watching session that include jokes and references to binge-watching. Before the third episode, the brand rewards binge-watchers by running an ad that features a special promotion or announcing they will be able to watch the next episode without commercial interruptions.[24]

Shows associated with binge-watching

[25][26][27]

gollark: An alt checker, if you will.
gollark: And other alts.
gollark: It's a bit close to aeons, I think.
gollark: We need more time dragons. Some vague ideas:Hourglass Dragons (no idea, sounds cool)Clock Pygmies (pygmies which make clocks)Oracle Dragons (two-headed, one head can see into the past, one into the future)
gollark: You can probably trade them for non-pyro xenowyrms.

See also

References
  1. West, Kelly (December 13, 2013). "Unsurprising: Netflix Survey Indicates People Like To Binge-Watch TV". Cinema Blend. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  2. Trouleau, William; Ashkan, Azin; Ding, Weicong; Eriksson, Brian (2016). Just One More: Modeling Binge Watching Behavior. Proceedings of the 22Nd ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. KDD '16. New York, NY, USA: ACM. pp. 1215–1224. doi:10.1145/2939672.2939792. ISBN 978-1-4503-4232-2. S2CID 207239073.
  3. Poniewozik, James (July 10, 2012). "Go Ahead, Binge-Watch That TV Show". Time. Time. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  4. Jurgensen, John (July 13, 2012). "Binge Viewing: TV's Lost Weekends". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 26, 2017. Using streaming and DVRs, TV viewers are increasingly gobbling up entire seasons of shows in marathon sessions
  5. Sweet, Anne (2018). "Hooked on "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix, 2013-)? The Art of Binge-Watching, and Netflix's Addiction-Creating Production Strategies" in "Combining Aesthetic and Psychological Approaches to TV Series Addiction". Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1-5275-1449-2.
  6. "Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013". OxfordWords blog. Oxford Dictionaries. November 19, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  7. "Binge-watch is Collins' dictionary's Word of the Year". BBC News. November 5, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  8. BBC News (August 22, 2013). "Kevin Spacey: TV audiences 'want to binge'". BBC. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  9. Barton, Kristin M. (March 2, 2015). A State of Arrested Development: Critical Essays on the Innovative Television Comed. McFarland. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-7864-7991-7.
  10. Plunkett, John; Sweney, Mark (August 26, 2013). "Kevin Spacey's MacTaggart lecture prompts defence of traditional TV". The Guardian. Guardian Media Ltd. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  11. Sung, Yoon Hi; Kang, Eun. "A Bad Habit for Your Health? An Exploration of Psychological Factors for Binge-Watching Behavior". American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  12. Gardner, Bill (January 6, 2020). "Three people treated for 'binge watching' addiction to TV in first cases of their kind in Britain". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  13. Sweet, Anne (2018). "Hooked on "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix, 2013-)? The Art of Binge-Watching, and Netflix's Addiction-Creating Production Strategies" in "Combining Aesthetic and Psychological Approaches to TV Series Addiction". Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1-5275-1449-2.
  14. Sweet, Anne (2017). "Dependence in / on TV series II (Séries et dépendance: Dépendance aux séries II)". InMedia. 6.
  15. Pittman and Steiner (2019). "Transportation or Narrative Completion? Attentiveness during Binge-Watching Moderates Regret". Social Sciences. 8 (3): 99. doi:10.3390/socsci8030099. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  16. Steiner, Emil. "Binge-Watching Motivates Change". Convergence. doi:10.1177/1354856517750365. S2CID 148575983.
  17. Baker, Brandon. "Infrequently Asked Questions: Why do we binge-watch?". Philly Voice. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  18. "Most Young Adults Have an Appetite for Binge-Watching Shows". Morning Consult. November 6, 2018. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  19. Pierce-Grove, Ri (May 2, 2020). "Binge-watching can soothe the coronavirus quarantine blues, and no need for guilt". USA Today. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  20. Exelmans L, Van den Bulck J. (2017). "Binge viewing, sleep, and the role of pre-sleep arousal". J Clin Sleep Med. 13 (8): 1001–1008. doi:10.5664/jcsm.6704. ISSN 1550-9397. PMID 28728618.
  21. "Binge-watching television associated with poor sleep in young adults". American Academy of Sleep Medicine. August 14, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  22. Schweidel, David A.; Moe, Wendy W. (September 1, 2016). "Binge Watching and Advertising". Journal of Marketing. 80 (5): 1–19. doi:10.1509/jm.15.0258. ISSN 0022-2429. S2CID 168502732.
  23. "Encouraging TV Binge Watching May Backfire On Advertisers". NPR.org. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  24. Steinberg, Brian; Steinberg, Brian (December 12, 2019). "Hulu Hopes to Make Ads Part of Your Binge Session". Variety. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  25. The 50 Best TV Shows to Binge-Watch|Mental Floss
  26. Netflix Doesn't Want to Talk About Binge-Watching – Investopedia
  27. Bing Guide: 5 Shows to Watch If You Love Dark ‹‹ Rotten Tomatoes
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