Safe havens for tired viewers

After a long day of work, Marie-Michèle often spends her evenings in front of the screen, watching the same series that she has seen a thousand times. Too exhausted to select something new, she revisits her classics, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine And RuPaul’s Drag Race, which she knows by heart. This behavior reflects a growing phenomenon that is disrupting our TV habits: decision fatigue.

“I’m just listening to old stuff again,” admits the 43-year-old Montrealer. Every time I’m like, “Okay, I’m listening to something else!” But I end up scrolling for an hour. I don’t have the energy to choose. There are too many choices…”

Marie-Michèle is far from being the exception. Since the arrival of video on demand services on the internet like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, the offer has actually exploded. In 2022, in the United States alone, 600 original fiction series emerged, data from the online portal Statista reveals. This number fell by 14% in 2023, but nonetheless: 516 titles in 12 months remains overwhelming.

“Given the cognitive effort that must be made to evaluate the range of series offered, many people favor those that they know well, researchers have noted,” underlines Stéfany Boisvert, professor at the Media School of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).

This reality is all the more striking when we take a look at the list of the 20 most popular shows among 16-34 year olds on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, last March in the United Kingdom. Only three original productions from the platforms appear in the ranking established by BARB, a firm responsible for compiling audience measurements: The Gentlemen (6^e), One Day (15^e) And Love Is Blind (16^e).

The rest is made up of old series which benefited from linear television broadcasting a few (or sometimes many) years earlier, such as The Simpsons (2^e), Friends (3^e), The Big Bang Theory (4^e), Grey’s Anatomy (7^e), Modern Family (8^e), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (9^e), The Office (10^e) And Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (13^e).

“These are cuddly programs,” says Xavier Rambert of the French agency Glance, a Médiamétrie entity which detects global trends in TV.

“This is not something specific to the United Kingdom,” specifies the expert. We have every reason to believe that we would find similar consumption behaviors elsewhere [comme au Canada, aux États-Unis]. »

A phenomenon that is not recent

Decision fatigue doesn’t just affect TV viewing. “It’s a form of fatigue that we can feel when faced with different types of overabundance of choice,” underlines Stéfany Boisvert of UQAM.

Television decision-making fatigue is not new either. In January 2000, John Ellis, ex-TV producer and professor at Royal Holloway College in London, published Seing Things, a book which deciphered the phenomenon. Conclusion of his work: when we suffer from decision fatigue, we stay on familiar ground.

At that time, the explosion of specialized channels in the United States had led to an increase in the number of television series, recalls Stéfany Boisvert. HBO led the way with Sex and the City And The Sopranos. Several broadcasters followed.

Vanessa, a 42-year-old Montrealer who used to devour crime documentaries (commonly calledtrue crime), is part of the number. “There are so many platforms, so many people who say to listen to this or that series… It becomes a mountain, an overload,” she observes.

Other factors

Of course, decision fatigue is not the only factor that can explain that a list of the most watched titles on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video in 2024 contains 85% of series from the 2010s, 2000s and even 1990s. immense catalog of “retro-viewing” titles also motivates their omnipresence in the ranking.

“These are programs with many seasons and episodes,” emphasizes Xavier Rambert de Glance. It makes a mathematical difference. The ability to be consumed from a series like Friends, with 236 episodes, is much bigger than a new release that only has a dozen. »

In addition, the change in television viewing practices would benefit certain types of programs.

Before the digital age, you had to be in your living room, in front of your television, to watch series. Consequently, the listening period was mainly concentrated in the evening.

Today, these limits no longer exist.

“Many people have gotten into the habit of watching series at any time, during lunch, on public transport,” emphasizes Stéfany Boisvert. Old series benefit from this, more particularly comedies, with their episodes of around twenty minutes. They are conducive to more or less concentrated viewing. In the metro, these are often the kind of series we watch on our cell phones. Watching a drama series that requires a lot of concentration while on the move is a little more difficult. »

Fear for the future

On-demand viewing platforms are obviously very aware of the elements that influence our viewing in 2024, including decision fatigue. Given this observation, is it reasonable to fear that they will begin to prioritize the acquisition of pre-existing series and that they will favor the production of tailor-made fiction for those who wish to put their brains on hold in front of their screen?

“In a competitive context, where each platform hopes to do well, it would be surprising if they all decided to offer more easily digestible content,” replies Stéfany Boisvert. But it’s a legitimate concern. Over the past two years, TV production has started to decline again. Given that we are reducing the number of projects we finance per year, the conglomerates seem to want to move towards works that are a little more consensual. This could encourage some companies to take less risks. We must therefore remain vigilant. »