Binge or purge? Study reveals shows that drop all episodes at once get finished more often

While streaming new shows, you might have found yourself craving that “Next Episode” countdown timer, only to be frustrated to learn you’ll have to wait until next week to watch the new chapter.

Well, you’re not alone.

A new study into streaming habits from streaming studiers Samba TV quoted by The Wrap shows 45% of respondents surveyed say they finished shows released in 2023 “in bulk” compared to a 35% completion rate of the series that dropped weekly.

Thirty-nine percent finished the programs if they released blocks of episodes instead of the whole enchilada.

“That’s millions of viewers who are starting but not completing a series,” Samba TV’s vice president of measurement products, Cole Strain, said at The Grill, The Wrap’s annual business conference.

What’s more, approximately 70% of millennial respondents surveyed by Samba TV said they’d be more likely to keep a streaming service that dropped entire shows at a time, like Netflix does, instead of a week-by-week distribution, the way Paramount+ and Disney+ usually release content.

By way of example, the company notes 61% of respondents completed the bulk-dropped Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on Netflix; 50% say they finished season 3 of The Mandalorian, which dropped episodes weekly on Disney+.

Just 52% got through all of Ted Lasso’s weekly releases on Apple TV+, and 48% finished another weekly streamer, fellow Emmy winner Succession, over on Max.

For the record, Samba TV says 72% of the U.S. adults it surveyed identified themselves as binge-watchers, and 47% say it took them an average o

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.