Planning to Binge: How Consumers Choose to Allocate Media Viewing Time

Abstract

As streaming media online has become more common, many firms have embraced the phenomenon of “binge-watching” by offering their customers entire seasons of a television-style series at once. We show that consumers, in turn, can plan to binge content, and that planning to binge is more likely to be preferred when a show’s individual episodes are perceived to be sequential and connected, as opposed to when episodes are independent with points of closure. Furthermore, consumers considering future media consumption are willing to spend both time (i.e., by delaying consumption) and money for the opportunity to binge later. Our findings extend across both hedonic and utilitarian content, as well as to the execution of media consumption. Thus, we expand upon the traditional view of binge consumption being a purely indulgent or impulsive behavior, and propose that the structure of the media content is an important factor in consumers’ plans to binge. These findings have implications for how media firms might curate their content portfolios in ways that allow them to tailor their offerings to a range of consumption styles and preferences.