Netflix Can Tell You The Exact Moment You Become Addicted To A TV Show

“Just when I thought I was out…they pulled me back in”

Don Corleone from The Godfather: Part III there, talking about dark conspiratorial forces blotting his chance of leaving the crime business. But had Netflix been around back in his day, the man could just as easily have been talking about his favourite TV show (Peep Show, obviously).

We’ve all been hooked by a TV series at some point in our lives. Some instantly watchable, others slow burners, there are many variables when it comes to finding the average number of episodes a show takes to leave us hooked. And now it seems Netflix has the answer.

Using its global streaming data across the debut seasons of its most popular shows – both Netflix originals and series made by other networks – researchers were able to look for signals for when viewers became hooked, finding that 70 per cent of viewers who watched the ‘game-changer’ episode went on to finish the whole season.

It appears only two helpings of Walter White were needed on average to get people hooked on Breaking Bad. Whereas it took five episodes of Daredevil and a staggering 8 of How I Met Your Mother (the latter show only available in the US) for Netflix users to properly sink their teeth into those respective hits.

The global stats make for interesting reading, with the Dutch falling in love with TV shows the fastest and those in the Southern Hemisphere (we're looking at you Australia and New Zealand) being pickier with their viewing habits. Then again, given our Aussie cousins are still due a small screen version of Crocodile Dundee, it's somewhat understandable.

And judging by the UK results, we’re not exactly ahead of the curve ourselves, rather getting hooked on a show if not by the exact same episode as the rest of the world, then a week or so later. Better Call Saul just one of three big hitters we took slightly longer to warm to.

Whether you're a Netflix user or not, it makes for interesting reading.

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