Binge Watching
Binge watching has been around since television itself but has taken various iterations through out the years. Think back to when people would binge the same three channels no matter what were on TV for hours on end. Most of us can recall a time where we watched some sort of marathon on TV as well. Now, the demographic my age probably remembers the days of bringing home a heap of VHS tapes or DVD's from video rental stores. I personally remember the joy of going to the local Movie Gallery on a Friday picking out my favorites to stay in and watch all weekend. The group younger than me is probably more familiar with modern binge watching this includes services like Redbox and video streaming. Streaming is by far the most efficient way to binge in history, now a user can pay a low monthly fee and have access to a seemingly unlimited number of hours of television and movies.
The reality is that almost everyone participates in some form of binging. Youtube and streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and most recently Disney+ have surged in popularity. With recent events streaming is more important than ever. Many people globally are confined to their homes with nothing to do but binge watch their favorite shows. The last few years have shown a trend in global entertainment phenomenons where a few shows will gain massive popularity even resulting in more subscriptions to the service which hosts them. Recent examples include The Mandalorian, The Witcher, and Tiger King. If for some strange reason these don't sound familiar think Stranger Things. I've spoken in depth about the first two titles mentioned in previous blogs I've written but I have yet to watch the third which has seem to have taken the world by storm. Tiger King is evidently a story of meth, gay polygamy, tigers, and murder. It has been in the top 10 on Netflix for weeks now and has been one of the most watched programs since quarantine began. It was a convenient time to release a series with the mass consumption of video going on, most of the people I talked to watched it all in one sitting (binge watching!). It was so well received that Netflix went so far as to rush a new episode which was released a short time ago which was hosted by Joel McHale. With binging being common place in today's society it makes sense why many producers are releasing television in bulk, a season at a time. It's also common for people to forgo watching a series on television, "I'll wait for it to come to Netflix", so they can binge the entirety of it at once. I for one am all for it, although it does make me reminisce about the days where I had to pay ungodly amounts of money for box sets of television shows so I could overindulge in their viewing. On second thought maybe watching all 11 seasons of Smallville on Hulu would be easier than lugging around my series set which weighs at least ten pounds.
The reality is that almost everyone participates in some form of binging. Youtube and streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and most recently Disney+ have surged in popularity. With recent events streaming is more important than ever. Many people globally are confined to their homes with nothing to do but binge watch their favorite shows. The last few years have shown a trend in global entertainment phenomenons where a few shows will gain massive popularity even resulting in more subscriptions to the service which hosts them. Recent examples include The Mandalorian, The Witcher, and Tiger King. If for some strange reason these don't sound familiar think Stranger Things. I've spoken in depth about the first two titles mentioned in previous blogs I've written but I have yet to watch the third which has seem to have taken the world by storm. Tiger King is evidently a story of meth, gay polygamy, tigers, and murder. It has been in the top 10 on Netflix for weeks now and has been one of the most watched programs since quarantine began. It was a convenient time to release a series with the mass consumption of video going on, most of the people I talked to watched it all in one sitting (binge watching!). It was so well received that Netflix went so far as to rush a new episode which was released a short time ago which was hosted by Joel McHale. With binging being common place in today's society it makes sense why many producers are releasing television in bulk, a season at a time. It's also common for people to forgo watching a series on television, "I'll wait for it to come to Netflix", so they can binge the entirety of it at once. I for one am all for it, although it does make me reminisce about the days where I had to pay ungodly amounts of money for box sets of television shows so I could overindulge in their viewing. On second thought maybe watching all 11 seasons of Smallville on Hulu would be easier than lugging around my series set which weighs at least ten pounds.
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