Binge or Episode? How Do You Prefer Watching Your Shows?

‘Binge’ – This is a term which has been used a lot in recent years, especially when it comes to web content. So much so, in fact, that even brands have started associating themselves with it. But does that mean the preference for episodic consumption of shows is extinct?

Let us figure out.  

For that, let us take you back to some few decades ago. Back then, the only way for us to watch the cinema was through the big screen. The options were very limited, it was either that, or you could watch plays performed by local artists.

With cinema halls being the only platform to watch cinema, people were eagerly waiting for something that could help them watch all this at the comfort of their home.

Their wish did come true by late 60s and 70s when television started becoming affordable and popular. But the golden age of television came in the 80s when the earlier TV shows started airing.

Thus, came the concept of episodes in India. Today we enjoy daily soap operas, but back then people literally had to wait for a week to watch the next episode (Many shows were weekly). A perfect example would be DD’s Ramayana, where a new episode would be aired every week. With decades of viewing, most of us had gotten accustomed to the episodic way of viewing content.

But then, a few years ago, came online streaming platforms, thanks to which, we now have the luxury of watching or should we say binge-watching tv shows wherein we can complete an entire season in one go. This is perfect for people who lack the time to wait and wish to complete a story in one go, just like books.

Eventually, couples and friends even started making plans for binge-watching their favourite tv shows online, adding another reason to the list of having sleepovers. Most importantly, online streaming has become a saviour for people like us who have no patience what so ever and do not have the stomach to take the suspense and we couldn’t stress more on this.

This also helps you stay up to date with the latest season in case you are late to the party.

Basically, the episodic and binge-watching experience are both two sides of the same coin and just like anything in this world, they are very subjective.

There are people who love to watch one episode each week and then there are people who want to complete the entire season in one stretch. A perfect example of episodes would be two of our new favourite ZEE5 originals Abhay and Parchayee, one new episode is released every week.

On the other hand, they have also got the binge-watch audience covered with their binge-worthy web series like Rangbaaz, What’s Up Velakkari, Karenjit Kaur and many more.

Basically, no matter what side you are on, today’s internet has everything that you can ask for.