Streaming Platforms and How Watching Habits Have Changed3 min read

Streaming platforms are now part of our daily lives, but do we realise how much they have changed our watching habits?

Our watching habits have undeniably changed with the past transition from theatre to cinema to TV.

However, with the increasing popularity of streaming platforms today, our watching habits have once again changed without us even realising it.

Here are five ways in how streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max have changed our watching habits.

1) Binge watching is now the norm.

With streaming platforms immediately releasing all of a show’s episodes (or all of one season’s episodes), watchers can now quickly finish a series since they do not have to wait every week for an episode like what they would have to do for a series on cable television. Think about how many times you have heard someone say that they have finished a streaming platform show in one night or day.

Even if you are not binge-watching a streaming platform show, you are likely to finish it much faster than a cable TV show because you do not have to pace yourself watching all its readily available episodes unless you want to enjoy taking your time to watch it.

To a certain degree, streaming platforms have made us become impatient and demanding because once we have quickly finished a series, we quickly forget about it and then want another one to watch.

2) Waiting for new films to come onto streaming platforms rather than going to the cinema to watch them.

This might not apply to everyone, but some people may prefer to wait for new films to be released onto their streaming platforms rather than going to the cinema to watch them.

While a cinema has a larger screen, better sound effects and a more immersive atmosphere, watching from home is convenient and cheaper as you do not have to travel and pay for tickets, popcorn or 3D glasses.

More importantly though, watching from home gives you more freedom as you can pause the film if something has interrupted your watching and then rewind it to watch the part you missed. This is clearly better than you trying to deduce what has happened in a cinema film after missing parts of it due to going to the toilet, a tall person in front blocking your view or loud eaters who make it difficult for you to hear the movie.

3) We now have a more flexible watching schedule.

Unlike the old days where we would have to be on time to watch our show’s weekly episodes (or record them or watch a repeat later), streaming platforms have made our watching schedule more flexible as we can pause and later resume watching our episodes from where we left off at any time.

Our newfound flexible watching schedule is further reinforced by the fact that some streaming platforms allow us to download series to watch them offline during a long train journey for example.

4) We do not mind watching on smaller screens.

With streaming platforms being available on phones, tablets and laptops, we no longer restrict ourselves to only watching on televisions. If we do not own a TV or see that someone is already occupying it, we will instead watch on our other devices.

5) We have gotten used to watching ad-free content.

Frequent adverts and breaks have always irritated us, but we now may be even more irritated by them as we have gotten used to watching ad-free streaming platform content.

So, with streaming platforms having drastically changed our watching habits, do you think it will remain like this forever or once again be changed in the future?

Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash