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Binge-watching practices in the pre-pandemic era. Scale of measurement, discourses and related social effects from a case study of university students from Spain

The new modes of television consumption point to the interest of binge-watching as the object of study. This paper builds an intensity index that classifies users into “irregular”, “regular” or “dedicated”. Methodologically, an inter-method sequence is applied, combining descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses, as well as discussion groups from which cleavages or discursive positions derive. The results of the research indicate that most of the University population are binge-watchers so the terms have changed and a new scale is necessary for identifying the level of engagement with binge-watching behaviour in the current. Almost 30% of the university population under study corresponds to the typical-ideal category of “dedicated” and 33% with the “regular”. The growth rate of the phenomenon is exponential between 2016-2019. The triggering motivations for binge-watching are primarily hedonic; its effects affect our moods especially in “dedicated” users. Two different types of viewing are clearly identified. The first is committed or prioritized viewing (with a high attention level, high dependence and sympathy with regards to the story and characters), and secondary or complimentary viewing. The study concludes that, in a pre-pandemic context of over-audiovisual fiction content (fictoxication), the ability to select and self-assess the media diet acquires the fundamental skill status in the socio-educational framework of the younger ones.