You’ve heard of binge watching. Now get ready for Netflix’s manipulation of your competitive side with a term it’s super eager to coin: binge racing.
Binge racing is the act of completing a season of a TV show within 24 hours of its release — and, as of September, over 8.4 million users have participated in inhaling their favourite shows.
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It’s easy to understand why Netflix would encourage this behaviour: binge racing ensures users will watch the entirety of a show despite its content, allowing even the most anticlimactic shows like Marvel’s The Defenders a chance at the big time.
And users? Well, they get bragging rights and the safety of knowing they will never be unwittingly spoilered.
Binge racing ensures users will watch an entire show, while they get bragging rights and a spoiler-free life
Netflix says its top binge-raced show globally is Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life — which would have hinted to the popularity of having a shorter amount of long episodes if Fuller House (which has 13 30-minute-long episodes a season) didn’t appear in second.
Coming in hot, though, is the latest season of Stranger Things, set to premiere 27 October.
“Binge racing is probably going to have its biggest moment [when the season is released],” Netflix representative Yenia Zaba told Memeburn at a recent media event.
According to the company, Canadians have the highest percentage of binge racers on Netflix, while South Africa doesn’t even crack the top 20. But all that may change when Eleven comes back from the Upside Down.
“We think South Africa is going to be way up there, because we have a lot of early adopters, and South Africans are absolutely crazy about Stranger Things,” Zaba said. Whether this should be a source of pride or shame is unclear.
What I am sure about is that if Netflix wants binge racing to really be a thing, then it’s time to gamify the race. Rewarding, say, the first 100 users who watch a season with a free month or some cool merchandise would turn casual binge racing into an actual sport, and it would finally be one I’m good at.
My mom will be so proud. Or ashamed. Again, I’m not too sure.
