Binge watching and the new dominant way of consuming and producing tv series

Abstract

This article examines binge watching, also known as media marathoning, and related studies in television media consumption, and discusses how the popularization of such behavior has been modifying the model of producing television content. This phenomenon began timidly with the VCR and some special programming of cable television channels, and today happens explosively in the streaming of video over the Internet, provoking a new way to produce and consume visual culture, in television or computer, smartphones and tablets displays. Netflix and YouTube are the leading exponents in the production and distribution of audience-driven content with binging features in a new programming distribution paradigm, by individual viewer demands. This has especially impacted the production of TV dramaturgy series, where the narrative is restructured with the new perspectives opened by technology, seeking different strategies, both for broadcast television and for pear-to-pear distribution, in resonance with this contemporary behavior, as it is presented in this work.