Binge-watching is a national guilty pleasure, with 70 percent of Americans (and 90 percent of US millennials) indulging in the pastime, according to a 2016 Deloitte survey. But binge-watching is so 2015. This year, the people at Netflix came up with a new term to describe people who watch an entire show within 24 hours of its release. Meet the "binge racer".
According to new data released by the video streaming company, 8.4 million subscribers fall into this demographic. And it's a figure that's growing. Between 2013 and 2016, the number of people who have completed a series on the day of its released increased 20 times over.
“TV is their passion and Binge Racing is their sport,” as Netflix put it in a press release.
Among this group, there are some that take their "sport" to an extreme. The press release points to five users in the US who binge-raced all five seasons of House of Cards and a French subscriber who's binge-raced an impressive 30 shows in the past year alone.
“There’s a unique satisfaction that comes from being the first to finish a story – whether it's the final page of a book or the last, climactic moments of your favorite TV show," explained Brian Wright, Netflix's Vice President of Original Series.
“Netflix allows you to watch in a way you never could before, and there's nothing better than seeing a show engage our members and ignite a passion for viewing.”
While no genre or show format is off limits to the binge racer, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life topped the charts with the highest number of users finishing the show within 24 hours of its release. The fact that there are just four episodes in the entire series certainly worked to its advantage.
Here's the top 20.
The 20 Most Binge-Watched Shows Globally
1. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
2. Fuller House
3. Marvel's The Defenders
4. The Seven Deadly Sins
5. The Ranch
6. Santa Clarita Diet
7. Trailer Park Boys
8. F is for Family
9. Orange Is the New Black
10. Stranger Things
11. Friends from College
12. Atypical
13. Grace and Frankie
14. Wet Hot American Summer
15. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
16. House of Cards
17. Love
18. GLOW
19. Chewing Gum
20. Master of None
Canadians win the gold medal for the highest number of binge-racers. The US and Denmark getting silver and bronze respectively.
The 20 Countries With The Most Binge-Racers
1. Canada
2. United States
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Norway
6. Germany
7. Mexico
8. Australia
9. Sweden
10. Brazil
11. Ireland
12. United Kingdom
13. France
14. New Zealand
15. Peru
16. Netherlands
17. Chile
18. Portugal
19. Italy
20. The United Arab Emirates
While binge-racing is on the rise (200,000 subscribers in 2013 to 5 million in 2017), the amount of time the average user spends on Netflix is declining. According to a Newsweek report, viewing time dropped from 222 minutes in 2016 to 170 minutes this year.
However, we're glad Stranger Things starts on a Friday. Just saying.
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