Binge viewing the ‘new norm’, says TiVo

Binge viewing is the “new norm” with full season programme bingeing on the rise, according to new research by DVR maker TiVo.

The second annual TiVo Spring 2015 Binge Viewing Survey found that 92% of respondents reported binge viewing at some point, with original streamed series topping the survey as the most popular binged content for the first time.

“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,” said TiVo’s chief research officer, Jonathan Steuer.

Netflix original series House of Cards and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt were found to be the “most recently binged shows”, with 66% of season bingers using Netflix to watch their favourite programming in bulk.

Some 30% of those surveyed said they prefer to wait to binge-watch certain programs until the entire season or series is over, while 32% said they deliberately put off watching an entire season of a show until they can watch the whole season at once – up slightly on the year before.

TiVo found that 61% reported bingeing on three or more episodes of the same show in one day because they fell behind on that series.

The TiVo survey was completed by a panel of 12,500 TiVo subscribers and defined ‘binge viewing’ as watching more than three episodes of a series in a day.