Netflix has revolutionized television by disrupting the traditional broadcast and cable models. Netflix’s on-demand streaming service allows viewers to watch entire seasons of a program at once, enabling a shift from weekly episodic viewing to continuous, self-paced consumption.
Binge-watching is a new way of watching. Binge-watching is one of the most important cultural changes Netflix has brought about. So-called “binge-watching” refers to watching multiple episodes of a program in one sitting, a practice that Netflix actively encourages through its autoplay feature, which automatically starts the next episode without user input. New viewing rituals and social behaviors are created. Binge-watching creates both positive and negative experiences for the viewer, such as greater emotional engagement with characters and narratives, but also guilt from over-consumption and emptiness after desires have been over-satisfied. This has simultaneously affected the way people talk about television. With this change, viewers often discuss shows in terms of entire seasons or series rather than individual episodes, reflecting a shift towards a more holistic and immersive viewing experience.
Binge-watching is now a mainstream way of consuming TV content, especially with Netflix’s strategy of releasing entire seasons of programs at once. This is very different from traditional TV. The latter usually releases one episode per week. The first Netflix series to allow viewers to watch an entire season at once was House of Cards, which premiered in February 2013. This marked a major shift in the way television is delivered. Instead of releasing one episode per week, Netflix simulcast all 13 episodes of the first season, allowing viewers to binge-watch the entire season if they wished.
This approach to releasing entire seasons of programming at once was revolutionary and became a key feature of Netflix’s content strategy. Catering to the growing appetite for on-demand viewing and fueling the rise of binge-watching culture, Netflix has dramatically reshaped the way television is produced, distributed, and consumed, ushering in a new era of television characterized by binge-watching, global accessibility, and on-demand viewing

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Reference

Mareike Jenner (2018), ‘Introduction: Netflix and the Renvention of Television’, ‘Introduction: Binge Watching Netflix’, Netflix and the Reinvention of Television, pp. 1-31, 109-118.