TV Binge Watching On The Rise

by Wayne Friedman , July 19, 2016

More viewers have been binge watching on TV in the last few months. Now 57% of TV viewers report regular binge viewing in the last 10 months -- up 12%, GfK MRI Research says.

GfK MRI research characterizes “binge viewing” as TV viewers who regularly watched three or more episodes of the same show in one sitting — from streaming, time-shifted viewing/DVR, video-on-demand or scheduled TV marathons.

The survey says regular binge viewing includes 14% who “usually” binge all or most of the time, 18% who “frequently” binge more than half the time, and 25% who “sometimes” binge about half the time.

How do viewers feel about binging? Pretty good.

Some 73% of regular bingers report having a positive view of their binging; 77% say it is “so fun to binge watch, I have a hard time stopping”, and 48% feel that binge viewing keeps them “up to date/in the know.”

Data shows all this binge viewing is good for TV networks looking to get viewers to sample new shows: 41% of regular bingers say TV shows “they have never seen” occupy most of their binge viewing time, compared to 35% for “old favorite” programs. Farther down the list: Original shows from new streaming services -- only 22% do this binging.

Demographically, Millennials maintain their top spot among bingers, with 53% saying that they are regular bingers.

Not surprisingly, streaming services are the main conduits for binge viewing. Streaming services are the most active platforms to binge -- 66%. For millennials is number is 81%.

research, streaming, trends, tv

3 comments about "TV Binge Watching On The Rise".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics, July 19, 2016 at 10:58 a.m.
That reminds me. This weekend I think I'll binge watch 200 episodes of "Gunsmoke".
Reply

Kevin Horne from Lairig Marketing, July 20, 2016 at 3:12 p.m.

New thing appears

Industry reports endlessly about the thing

Consumers read endless stream of industry PR

Industry surveys consumers about the thing

Consumers remember reading PR, so they say "yes, I do the thing"

Industry reveals study of rapid growth in the thing

Consumers read more PR about the thing

Industry repeats study

More consumers remember reading newer PR, so more now say "yes, I do the thing now too!"

Rinse and repeat - until well after a new thing appears

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, July 20, 2016 at 5:20 p.m.

Exactly, Kevin. And once respondents think it's fashionable to claim to be doing the new thing they start to say that they are doing it more than before----which feeds the PR and trade press feeding frenzy.