Good Things Come to Those Who Binge: An Exploration of Binge-Watching Related Behavior

Paul BOCA

Abstract:

The rise of Video-on-Demand (VoD) services on the media market has produced key mutations in the television series industry at all levels. The dynamics of the tripartite relation between production, distribution and consumption gained new forms when these new services broke the traditional lineage of television and adopted the aesthetics of media catalogs that users can access whenever and wherever they want. VoD portals have triggered a process of usage democratization that has led to the unprecedented popularization of binge-watching as a new norm for the consumption of TV series. The present study explores binge-watching as a way of spending leisure time and the motivations behind the users’ decisions to engage in extended viewing sessions. Certain specific behaviors and emotions related to marathon viewing are discussed, as well as the connection between genre and extended watching sessions or users’ general attitude towards binge-watching.

Keywords: Binge-watching; Netflix; Netflix original series; Video-on-Demand; Social networking sites

DOI: 10.24193/jmr.34.1

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