Binge-viewing, a term used to describe a cultural trend of spending hours watching numerous episodes of television series, has reached a new world record. On 5 May, Erik Pettersson, Mascoll Silverstolpe, Thobias Johansson and Aina Lessefour aimed to beat the previous TV binge viewing record, which was set by Dan Jordan, Spencer Larson and Chris Laughlin in January 2014 when they watched 87 hours of the TV series 24.
On 9 May, Pettersson reached 90 hours of viewing 24 on Viaplay, a Scandinavian online media service for TV, film and sports content. Silverstolpe also managed to beat the previous record by watching the series for 87 hours and 17 minutes. Lesse left the competition after 24 hours and one minute while Johansson left after 38 hours and 46 seconds.
Pettersson commented: “It’s been a real feat, harder than we ever imagined, but it’s also been great to really test our limits. That said, it will probably be a while before we get to watching the few remaining episodes (24). Binge-viewing is a team sport and we are both winners.’
The challenge took place at the Viaplay headquarters in Stockholm, where contestants were either allowed to take one five-minute break per hour or, by saving up their minutes, a longer break at a later time.
The attempt was part of an initiative to launch Viaplay Premiere, which provides viewers with exclusive premieres on the online platform. Rikard Steiber, CEO of Viaplay said: “It’s been great to follow the world record attempt live in the building and on Viaplay, and it’s wonderful that Viaplay’s hero actually pulled it off. Everyone has shown real commitment to the attempt, both externally and internally.’
Visit the Viaplay world record page to view a live stream of the attempt.
Visit the Viaplay website for more information.
