We binge 'Orange is the New Black' faster than 'House of Cards,' data says
It turns out not everyone is binge-watching House of Cards as fast as you are.
The show is actually being consumed at a pace Netflix calls "savor," the company revealed in research released on Wednesday.
Netflix has created a chart called The Binge Scale, which ranks shows from "savor" (defined as shows users view for less than two hours per day) to "devour" (defined as shows watched for more than two hours per day).
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To come up with the scale, which the company says does not in any way reflect the number of people watching the series, Netflix studied the global viewing habits for more than 100 serialized TV shows. Their findings led them to create a handy chart, which breaks down binge habits by category.
According to Netflix, shows like Sense8, Orphan Black, The 100, The Walking Dead and The Fall are binged at a faster rate than shows like House of Cards and Bloodline.
The former group, it says, often hook viewers and "assault your senses," making it "hard to pull away." The "complex narratives" of the latter group make them ideal for slow-burn watching, it added.
Comedies -- like BoJack Horseman, Love and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- also tend to fall on the "savor" end of the scale, Netflix said.
Meanwhile, though Orange is the New Black is more binge-worthy than House of Cards, it still sits near the center of the spectrum. It's a fitting place for it, considering the dramedy itself often varies in tone and largely defies categorization. If you're watching for the laughs, you're going to watch at a different pace than if you're watching for the dramatic storylines.
“As The Binge Scale indicates, the viewing experience of a series can range from the emotional to the thought-provoking,” said Cindy Holland, vice president of original content at Netflix. “Netflix helps you to find a series to binge no matter your mood or occasion, and the freedom to watch that series at your own pace - whether that’s to appreciate the drama of Bloodline or power through Orange is the New Black."
Netflix's data for the chart was gathered between Oct. 2015 and May 2016 and only examined the data of members who completed full seasons.
On average, the company found that the "global median" for finishing the first season of each series it analyzed was five days, with each viewing session lasting for two hours and ten minutes -- for normal viewers.
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Sandra Gonzalez was a Senior Television Reporter at Mashable. A Texas native, she spent almost four years in New York City before leaving the land of superstorms for Los Angeles, where she was introduced to these terrifying things called "rolling earthquakes."Previously, she was with Entertainment Weekly, where she wrote about every show that could fit into her perfectly crafted TV schedule and anything ever touched by Shonda Rhimes.You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @theSandraG
