Netflix Survey Reveals ‘Binge Watching’ is Normal in Canada and the USA

Is it normal to ‘lose’ a weekend at home with your iPhone turned off, in your robe, surrounded by take out plus your cats all while binge watching Netflix (in the dark)?

Well, according to a Harris Interactive online survey conducted on behalf of Netflix, the binge watching (not necessarily how we described it) is exploding in popularity in Canada and the USA.

Grant McCracken, cultural anthropologist from the Convergence Culture Consortium at Massachusetts Institute for Technology, explored the TV viewing habits of viewers in the USA and Canada to unsurprisingly conclude binge watching is the new norm and explains why:

“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,”

“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.”

The survey, conducted online in late November polled just over 3,000 adults, ages 18 and over: 

• 76% of TV streamers say watching multiple episodes of a great TV show is a welcome refuge from their busy lives. 
• 79% said watching several episodes of their favourite shows at once actually makes the shows more enjoyable.  
• 76% say streaming TV shows on their own schedule is their preferred way to watch them.
• Among those who ever stream multiple episodes of a TV series in a row, more than one-third (38%) most like to do so solo; however, a combined 51% prefer to watch with at least one other person.
• 39% of TV streamers who prefer to “save” TV shows to watch at a later date choose to stream saved series or seasons when the person they want to watch with is available.
• 76% of TV streamers say watching multiple episodes of a great TV show is a welcome refuge from their busy lives.
• 65% of TV streamers said that if they took a digital time out, they would still want to watch TV.
• 80% of TV streamers say they would rather stream a good TV show than read a friend’s social media posts.

How often do you partake in ‘binge viewing’ on Netflix? 

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