Everyone loves a good TV watching marathon, but just how many hours would you need to watch some of your favourite shows start to finish?
Is there a better feeling than curling up on the sofa and spending hours watching your favourite TV show? Billions of hours are spent binge-watching TV shows every year, with some episodes being just minutes long, and some taking up hours at a time.
Thanks to Netflix and Amazon Prime, you no longer to wait from one week to the next for the next episode of your favourite show with most streaming services now opting to release full seasons at once, making it easier than ever to binge.
If you’re looking for a new binge, you’ve come to the right place. Experts at online slots site Betway have broken down the world’s longest binges to see just how long you’ll need to be glued to the TV to watch all episodes of a show from start to finish.
New shows such as HBO’s TV adaptation of The Last of Us, or the BBC’s Happy Valley captivate their audiences for a few hours throughout their seasons, but they pale in comparison to the years you’d need to watch every episode of the world’s longest TV shows.
As we can see from the top 10 longest binges, Eat Bulaga! in the Philippines is by far the longest show ever, with 13,501 episodes each taking around 150 minutes to finish! In fact, it would take you 3 years and 10 months to watch every episode back to back, with no bathroom breaks.
The Global TV Binge Index
TV shows from the United States dominate the rest of the list, with the soap opera Guiding Light taking the second spot on the list. At 15,762 episodes, it leapfrogs Eat Bulaga! in the episodes ranking. But with each episode being only 60 minutes long, it falls well short of Eat Bulaga!’s binge time. When it comes to UK shows, you’d have to watch Emmerdale seven times from start to finish to match Eat Bulaga!’s total runtime. Shall we pop the kettle on?
TV expert and Brand PR Manager at Embryo, Jo Threlfall, said:
“What makes a great TV show or series is a great storyline that keeps the viewer engaged and wanting more. Some of my favourite shows have been around 20-45 minutes in length per episode and keep me watching straight on to the next episode.
“As someone who likes to have a mixture of shows to watch that have a gripping storyline and lots of action, I like to watch a show that grabs my attention and leaves me questioning ‘what just happened?’ Sometimes those cliffhangers and shocking moments leave wanting you more. There’s nothing worse than watching a TV show that has a disappointing or terrible ending.
“A good TV show allows people to resonate or react to what happens on screen and therefore feel more attached and eager to watch to find out what happens next. This is the trick that makes it more ‘binge-worthy’ and explains why the shows in these lists are so connected with their prime audience.”
What makes a good binge?
Typically, the best TV binges are the ones that have shorter episodes that are easy to watch. Think of The Office or Brooklyn 99. Both are short, sharp and funny, and who wouldn’t watch that on repeat?
From our research though, the longest binges are by far either daytime shows such as Eat Bulaga! over in the Philippines, or soap operas such as Coronation Street in the UK. Who doesn’t love a bit of Corrie?
Soap operas are so popular because they have exaggerated yet believable plot lines. They allow viewers to peek behind the scenes into what feels like a very real person, often learning things about them before the other characters in the show do. It essentially allows the viewer to feel like they’ve learned a bit of gossip, and it keeps them tuned in for future episodes.
Daytime TV also occupies some of the top spots in our list. These shows are often lighthearted, involving live audience participation. In stark contrast to evening talk shows, daytime shows often avoid diving into deep topics, and usually steer clear of politics and divisive subjects.
While animated shows such as The Simpsons are super popular, they aren’t incredibly long binges. Animated shows take thousands of hours to make per episode. A single episode of The Simpsons takes about 5 months to make, which is why they work on a few episodes at a time!
Methodology
Betway searched the web for TV shows with the most episodes/longest runtime to compile this list. We found the number of episodes for each of the top 10 shows per country, as well as the number of minutes per episode. From this, we’re able to find out exactly how long it would take to watch each episode back-to-back, making it a proper binge.
