According to our recent survey, the average amount of time millennials (ages 23–38) will spend watching Netflix equates to roughly 13 years of the rest of their lives.
That’s long enough for their watching habits to develop acne, learn algebra, and communicate in abstract language—impressive.
In our survey, the average millennial Netflix viewer said they watched 6.6 hours of Netflix a day, which works out to be about 46.2 hours a week (that’s almost two whole days). That’s some serious binge-watching and bonding time.
Will you really spend 13 years of your life glued to a screen?
You can spend your time watching Netflix a few different ways too—millennials are no monolith.
For some of us, it’s a matter of throwing on a baking show to zen out after work every day. Or it’s leaving a nature documentary running in the background while we clean. For others, it’s binge-watching the latest season of Orange Is the New Black and live-tweeting our reactions as the drama unfolds.
It’s a no-brainer as to why millennials love Netflix. As the cost of living increases and wages stay stagnate, millennials need ways to spend their free time without spending a fortune.1 And for the price of a single movie ticket every month, Netflix provides endless hours of entertainment without needing to leave your home. Buying a box of popcorn at the grocery store costs less than a single bag at the theater. And theater-priced Junior Mints? Forget about it.
On top of saving cash on tickets and concessions, the vast majority of our surveyed Netflix users say that more than one person uses their account. Splitting the cost among a few people makes it even easier to save.
We can’t ignore the social and cultural impact of Netflix either. If you’re on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you’re going to miss out on a lot of references without a subscription to the ‘Flix.
For example, Bird Box permanently ingrained the use of blindfolds into universal memes. We discuss Dave Chappelle’s exclusive stand-up specials with as much political fervor as the president’s tweets. And for a while there, you could walk around Los Angeles and see corners of the city decked out with Stranger Things–pop-up shops and photo-ops.
If you don’t want to get left in the dust, a Netflix subscription is a must.
So, maybe give millennials and Netflix a break. It’s a cheap way to stay connected to people and society at large—or escape it all—for a few hours every day . . . even if those hours do add up to 13 years.
Methodology
We surveyed 750 people about their streaming behaviors. Of the 750 surveyed, 295 were millennials (ages 23–38) that said they used Netflix. Those millennial respondents watched an average of 6.6 hours of streaming content per day.
Our median millennial age was 32, with life expectancies between men and women averaging out to be 48 more years. Life expectancy was sourced from the U.S. Social Security Administration Actuarial Life Tables. The age range for millennials came from the Pew Research Center.
Sources
- Federation of American Scientists, “Real Wage Trends, 1979 to 2018”