Binge-watchers anonymous

10 June 2016 - 09:22 By SHAUN SMILLIE

We are becoming a nation of square eyes as more and more of us are turning to binge-watching, gobbling up entire TV series.Bingeing - watching of multiple episodes of TV series in a row - has become a part of the TV experience, and is being driven by subscription video on demand (S-VOD) services.A survey compiled by S-VOD Netflix found that its users on average finished an entire season in a week. They also found that not all series were devoured at the same speed.Netflix examined members' viewing habits across the world and found that when viewers were on the binge they watched a little more than two hours a day to complete a season.On its binge scale Netflix found series with high-energy narratives such as The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and comedy-drama Orange is the New Black were consumed quicker.However, more complex narratives such as House of Cards and Bloodline are watched at a more "unhurried" pace, at less than two hours a sitting.Research by Ericsson's Consumer Lab, found that 87% ofS-VOD users binge-viewed at least once a week, while half of those in the study admitted to the habit on a daily basis. Only 5% said they never binge-viewed.Binge-viewing makes sense, says Richard Boorman, spokesman for Showmax."There are so many series being aired now it's physically impossible to watch all of them when they are first released. It makes sense to have all the episodes in one place so people can settle in and watch from start to finish," he said.Boorman said bingeing had even changed the form of TV series."It used to be each episode was its own self-contained story and movies were the best way to tell a more involved story. With the move to binge-watching, the series is now even better for telling a detailed story with more involved plot lines spread over entire seasons."..

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