A new “binge viewer” trend is emerging in TV consumption, as an increasing number of viewers use their DVR or streaming service to watch entire seasons of shows in marathon sessions.
“The passive couch potato of the broadcast era turned into the channel surfer, flipping through hundreds of cable channels,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
“Now, technologies such as on-demand video and digital video recorders are giving rise to the binge viewer, who devours shows in quick succession — episode after episode, season after season, perhaps for $7.99 a month, the cost of a basic Netflix membership,” notes the article. “In the past, such sessions required buying stacks of costly DVDs… or special broadcast marathons.”
While this binge model is working out well for streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video, it’s not working out so well for traditional TV advertisers, who are now being cut out of the process.
“I don’t like the term ‘binge,’ because it sounds almost pathological,” says Todd Yellin, a Netflix executive. “‘Marathon’ sounds more celebratory.”
The goal of these streaming services is to retain viewers. “Binge viewing has turned into an unexpected linchpin in that effort,” according to WSJ.
The ability to instantly stream and therefore catch up on previous seasons of popular shows prior to the launch of a new season is driving up ratings for some series.
“With ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Breaking Bad,’ each year has been better [in the ratings] than the year prior, and that’s not the norm in historic TV-watching trends,” notes AMC President Charlie Collier.
A new “binge viewer” trend is emerging in TV consumption, as an increasing number of viewers use their DVR or streaming service to watch entire seasons of shows in marathon sessions.
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