Binge-viewing is booming but it is a lonely activity

According to TiVo's second annual binge-viewing report, nearly all of the 12,500 of its subscribers they surveyed admitted to binge-viewing. TiVo defines binge-viewing as watching three or more episodes of a TV show in one viewing.

The survey found that binge-viewers are insatiable. Nearly three-quarters (74%) said they had watched a full TV show season in just a matter of days. However, it appears that binge-viewing is a lonesome activity with more than half (53%) admitting they do not binge on programmes with others.

"Bingeing is booming - not just during sparse stretches in the TV schedule over the summer or holidays, but year-round - and as programmers such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon continue to release original programming a full season at a time, we expect this trend to accelerate. TiVo's new OnePass™ feature is ideally suited to maximize binge viewing efficiency - including full-season binging - across linear TV, VoD and OTT sources of content," said TiVo Chief Research Officer Jonathan Steuer.

Furthermore, binge-viewing is more accepted today than even a couple of years ago. Just 30% of TiVo's respondents reported a negative view of binge-viewers compared to more than half two year ago.

So, why do people binge? Some (45%) only learn about a show after a few episodes have aired and so they binge-view to catch up. Thirty-nine percent said they believe some shows are better when watched back-to-back and 32% deliberately delay watching an entire season of a show until they can watch the whole season in one go.

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Tags: streaming video, television, trends