What Does Streaming Content Tell Us about Us?

There are some things that can take the temperature of our culture that we might not necessarily consider. Take streaming, for example. After some informal research, I learned some interesting (and perhaps a bit head scratching) things about what our culture likes to watch on their various screens. What can these data tell us about how our culture is feeling? What does streaming content tell us about us?

How much are people watching.

According to Netflix, in the first half of 2024, their users watched over 94 billion hours of their content. If we assume that their second half numbers are similar, their 2024 total could exceed 188 billion hours watched —that's equal to roughly 21 million years worth of content watched. That's a lot of screen time!

What were people watching.

Topping the Netflix list was the historical romance with fancy clothes series, Bridgerton, Season 3 with 743 million hours viewed. A close second was the nanny cam thriller Fool Me Once, with 690 million hours views. Rounding out the top 5 were Queen of Tears with 682 million, Avatar The Last Airbender, Season 1, with 515 million hours, and finally The Gentleman, Season 1 with a respectable 509 million hours viewed.

What does this tell us.

First, it's quite amazing how many hours of streamed content we're consuming. In pre-streaming times, we gathered around the TV and watched. Now we can watch anytime, almost anywhere, on almost any digital device. There's a lot of discussion about how people get addicted to social media because algorithmically delivered messages and content lead us down the rabbit hole. Perhaps consumption of long form content, like streamed movies and limited series, is our great escape —an alternative to the rabbit hole.

The Netflix top 5 certainly are great portals for escaping. Whether it's Regency-era London, mysterious dead people on nanny cams, or a topsy turvy South Korean love story, this content screams "I need an escape from reality." Perhaps our voracious appetite for streamed content is a simply our way of climbing out of the rabbit hole.

Ok. I'm off to binge watch 3 Body Problem, which had 388 million hours viewed...