Why to people binge-watch certain shows?

A study I ran with my advisor (recently published here) looks at some of the uses and gratifications people seek out with certain kinds of binge-watching.

Some of the results confirmed what we already suspected, but some of the findings were fascinating in terms of people’s choice of access. There are so many platforms or venues for downloading television shows, and people (because the survey was anonymous) gave us great details about the variety of “illegal” means used to watch shows. The general ethos seems to be that I MIGHT buy an album or season of something if I love it, but when experimenting or testing out new music or shows, most people feel little need to pay for it.