Remote Control? More Like Binge Control!

The pandemic in 2020 shifted viewers from cable to streaming and in July of 2022, history was made when streaming surpassed cable viewings. With 62% of people watching Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video, streaming became more popular than watching live broadcasting. Netflix started the trend that many other streaming services followed by releasing original content on their platforms all at once. By doing this, more niche content was created for viewers and binge watching became prevalent. 

The niche content provided to people allowed viewers to repost the show's content on social media. This is important because it caused attention world wide and got more people interested in the new found content. Creating shows like "Bridgeton", fans have used their individual social media platforms to spread love and information on the site including when a new season drops or one of the cast members posts something to their platforms. 

"Binge watching" dates back to 2003, but it wasn't until 2012 when the phrase was coined. Watching multiple episodes of the same television series in one sitting has become popular. Netflix, for example, began released all episodes of a single season to their platform, allowing people to watch the entire season all at once, rather than having to wait weekly for a new episode to air. The phrase was declared the word of the year in 2015 and 73% of Americans have said they binge watch and watch an average of six episodes in one sitting. 

The Coronavirus pandemic made binge watching a common thing in households. HBO saw a 65% increase in subscribers watching three or more episodes at once starting in March of 2020. Since so many people are binge watching shows, most streaming platforms have included a 'More Like This' tab that shows television shows and movies that have similar themes to a show you've already seen and liked.