TV Binge Watching On The Rise

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%.

3 comments about "TV Binge Watching On The Rise".
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  1. 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".

  2. Kevin Horne from Verizon, 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

  3. 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.

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