2026 Consumer Trends We Can’t Get Behind and Why: Part 5 Of Our Six-Part Anti-Trend Series

Picture this: it’s another grey and rainy evening here in London. As the credits roll on an episode of your favourite comfort watch, Netflix confronts you with a judgemental “Are You Still Watching?” Suddenly, you realise you’ve spent three hours lying motionless on the sofa, and it’s probably time to stretch your legs and get a glass of water.

It happens to the best of us! We might not all be as dedicated as one particularly avid Married at First Sight fan, who, as Channel 4 reported, watched 25 episodes back-to-back in 2025. However, we’ve all been guilty of thinking “just one more episode.”

In the penultimate instalment of our 2026 Anti-Trend Series, we’re discussing TV viewing habits. We’ve already questioned, complicated, and even debunked a range of topics from the utility of age-based targeting, to whether Gen Z are really taking their lives offline.

The predicted trend: “bingeing” continues to reign supreme as the nation’s favourite way to watch TV, with linear viewing falling increasingly out of fashion.

But as we’ll explore it’s not all that straightforward. Linear TV continues to drive conversation and facilitate shared experiences – two important considerations for advertisers.

UK audiences are facing an increasingly fragmented media landscape, with more platforms than ever vying for a share of our average 4 hrs and 47 mins of daily video viewing.

At first glance, linear TV appears to be struggling to remain competitive, especially amongst younger audiences. For 16-34s, just 21.7% of the video day is comprised of linear TV – compared to 54.3% for all adults. Reporting by Ofcom also shows a year-on-year decline, with just 48% of young audiences tuning in on an average week, compared to 81% in 2018.

Meanwhile, subscription video on demand (SVoD) platforms have gone from strength to strength, with over two-thirds (68%) of UK households now subscribing to at least one service: a 230% increase between 2015 and 2024.  

Access to a library of boxsets – whether from the SVoD giants like Netflix or broadcast video on demand, such as Channel 4’s own streaming platform – has undeniably changed both our viewing habits and social media etiquette. Online conversations are no longer prefaced with warnings about “spoilers” – if you didn’t watch all eight episodes as soon as they dropped, then it’s your own fault!

Younger audiences are the most inclined towards binge-watching, displaying a preference for programmes that are available in full – meaning no agonising wait for a cliffhanger to be resolved. In contrast, those over 55 are much less averse to starting a series without all the episodes being available immediately. 

Whilst the statistics might initially appear to show a bleak future for linear television, this is far from the full story. Linear TV still has huge cultural influence and the ability to drive conversation, both online and offline, and a gradual release schedule only amplifies this.

Social media and online video may compete for our viewing attention, but they also act as additional touchpoint for engaging in conversations about television.  Seeing TikToks about an episode amplifies the feeling of having participated in a mass viewing experience and encourages viewers to watch live or as close to live as possible.

Video on demand platforms, in theory, give viewers more flexibility in when they choose to watch content. However, in practice, the fear of missing out results in binge-watching. The longer viewers take to finish the series, the more the sense of a shared experience is diminished. By contrast, programming released gradually sustains conversation for longer.

I experienced this phenomenon back in January, throughout the airing of series 4 of The Traitors. Nothing has made me feel more like a social outcast in the House of Communication office than failing to keep up with the demanding three-episodes-a-week schedule! The Traitors gradual release and the resulting sustained audience engagement meant I had to endure four long weeks of theorising from my colleagues and Claudia Winkelman memes I didn’t understand. 

Another key factor that differentiates linear TV from VOD binge-watching, is that binge-watching tends to be a more solitary activity – particularly amongst younger audiences. 16–34-year-olds might be trickier to reach on linear TV, but they can be found watching “event television”: live sport; reality TV and competition formats; and hotly-anticipated season finales.

Research by Thinkbox and BARB has found that 16-34s are more likely to watch linear TV in a group, than they are SVOD – supporting the idea that binge-watching is a more private affair.

Not only this, but group watching of linear TV is also more common amongst this age group than older audiences. We see this at home, where 97.7% of live TV viewing amongst 16-34s is done on the big screen (versus only 83.7% of SVOD) and with the rise of viewing parties for cult-favourite programmes.

Time Out listed twelve possible viewing parties across London for The Traitors final, whilst last Summer’s Love Island finale was screened in pub beer gardens and the Rooftop Film Club in Peckham. 

It’s true that younger audiences love binge-watching and this trend shows no signs of reversing. However, that doesn’t mean that they hold no place for weekly, scheduled television viewing.

16-34s are watching less linear TV, but when they do, they’re watching it in groups; they’re engaging in conversation both online and off. TV watching, unlike bingeing VoD, is a special, communal experience where audiences are truly engaged. This is all great news for advertisers!

In 2014, research by Garriy Shteynberg at the University of Tennessee demonstrated that we respond more strongly to a message when we receive it as part of a group. When shown images on a television, participants experienced more extreme emotional responses when they watched alongside others: sad content appeared sadder, and funny content was even funnier. If advertisers want to elicit a bigger response, then the key is “event television” that’s viewed in groups.

Not only does shared viewing make ads pack a harder emotional punch, it also makes adverts more memorable. Ad recall increases by 23% when watching with others, as opposed to watching alone. 

Finally, research by Channel 4 into the effectiveness of broadcast sponsorship found that the key attributes of a programme can be transferred onto the brand advertising around it. Featuring alongside premium, talked-about, highly anticipated linear content puts your brand into the centre of the cultural conversation.