As the decade draws to a close, it’s easy to forget how different things were back in 2010: tuning in each week was the only way to keep up with our favourite series; 4oD, BBC iPlayer, and ITV Hub were still in their infancy; cracks were only just starting to appear in DVD sales; and Netflix was still a few years away from launching in the UK. However, over recent years we’ve seen huge changes in our media consumption, preferences, and behaviours.
Nowhere are these changes more evident than in the rise of binge-viewing. With services such as Netflix releasing whole series in one go, we’re able to get the popcorn, sit back on the sofa, and watch episode after episode of Black Mirror, Orange Is the New Black, and Stranger Things. Indeed, Reed Hastings reiterated the importance of binge-viewing at his recent RTS keynote:
“On the core model, binge-viewing is the essence of what consumers love about Netflix.”
With this in mind, we conducted a 15 minute online survey in April this year, speaking to 800 Subscription and/or Broadcaster Video on Demand users in the UK, aged 16–54, to find out just how important binge-viewing has become when it comes to watching TV drama.
Whole series availability is a key motivator, especially for younger audiences
Despite being a relatively new behaviour, having a whole series available to binge is as important as reviews, recommendations, and the channel or service of a programme when deciding whether to watch TV drama.
However, this overall picture for watching TV drama hides some interesting age differences:
- For younger audiences (aged 16–34) having a whole series available at once is one of the primary factors in deciding what to watch
- Conversely, older audiences (aged 35–54) follow much more traditional cues. Binge-viewing is still important, but cast and channel/service brands are still the most persuasive factors
The more you watch, the more important bingeing is
It’s not just young audiences who expect to be able to binge-watch. Those most engaged with content are also the most motivated by having a whole series available.
- For 76% of heavy TV viewers (4+ hours of claimed TV consumption per day, 35% of the On-Demand audience) having the whole series available is important when deciding whether to watch a drama series. Not only is this notably higher than medium (68%) and light (65%) TV viewers, it also makes the ability to binge-watch the second most important factor for heavy TV viewers, with only the pull of favourite actors being more important (80%)
- Those with multiple Subscription Video On-Demand (SVOD) accounts are also the most motivated by the ability to binge-watch. For 84% of those with three or more SVOD services, having the whole series available at once is an important factor driving their decision of what to watch, putting it up there with recommendations from friends and family as a primary factor influencing decision making
Both groups are TV aficionados who love content. They want to consume as much of it as they can and crucially expect to be able to do so on their terms.
Binge-Viewing presents both an opportunity and a challenge for traditional broadcasters
The importance of being able to binge-watch also raises important questions for our leading Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) and their Broadcaster Video On-Demand (BVOD) offerings. Audiences who regularly use Netflix and BVOD services over-index in terms of perceived importance of having a whole series available to binge-watch. This points to an expectation in the on-demand space for greater box-setting of archive titles and multi-layered release schedules for newer titles.
Having whole series available to binge is motivating for those interested in new services
The new-found importance of binge-watching also poses interesting questions for newer entrants to the market. Disney and Apple have both announced that they’ll be experimenting with a variety of release models for big name content on their new SVOD services. Prospective audiences on their new services place high stated value on being able to binge watch but, in addition, for new market entrants more ‘traditional’ scheduling strategies may be important to extend the life of big-budget titles, create water-cooler conversation and retain customer interest while content libraries are built.
So, what does this all mean?
We’d like to leave you with three key take outs:
- Audiences, especially younger audiences, want and expect to be able to binge-watch their favourite content
- Those using leading SVOD and BVOD services are even more likely to place value on having whole series available at once — posing important questions for PSBs, their commissioning strategies, and release schedules
- However, the launches of Disney+ and Apple TV+ may well evolve audience expectations. Having whole series to binge on is an important factor for their potential subscribers but these companies can also immediately leverage major brand equity and established multi-platform IP to experiment with a ‘mixed release’ scheduling strategy
For further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the MarketCast team here.
