Binge-watching

Binge-watching, also called binge-viewing or marathon-viewing, is the practice of watching television 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 or more of the same TV show in one sitting.' Researchers have argued that binge-watching should be defined based on the context and the actual content of TV show. 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. For example, 61% of the Netflix survey participants said they binge-watch regularly. 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. The word's usage was popularized with the advent of on-demand viewing and online streaming. In 2013, the word burst into mainstream use when Netflix started releasing episodes of its serial programming simultaneously. Mark Smits is credited as one of the first binge watchers. He watched all 5 seasons of The Wire in three days in September 2008. In November 2015, the Collins English Dictionary chose the word 'binge-watch' as the word of the year. 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, 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. 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. 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. Research published by media scholar, Dr. Anne Sweet, PhD, 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. 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.'.