CHAPTER VII - BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN TÜRKİYE ON BINGE-WATCHING
Sena COŞKUN
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APA
Coşkun, S. (2024). Chapter VII Bibliometric Analysis of Articles Published in Türkiye on Binge-Watching. In P. Özgökbel Bilis, A. E. Bilis, and K. C. Baykal (Eds.), Rethinking Media in Light of Current Discussions and Trends (pp. 171–196). Ankara, Türkiye: Global Academy Publishing House. https://dx.doi.org/10.59740/academy.74
Introduction
One of the most significant changes and transformations by digital technologies is the diversification of internet-based media content with the development of digital platforms. Thus, individuals have turned to new online viewing practices instead of their classical television viewing habits. Providing viewers with the opportunity to watch and quickly access content in the direction they want can lead to the behavior called binge-watching (aşırı izleme/tıkınırcasına izleme), which is widely preferred, especially among young people.
Binge is associated with the dictionary meaning of a person doing a particular activity, especially eating or drinking alcohol intensively in a short period (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries). It has been adapted to the act of watching TV series and movies. The concept was included in the Oxford Dictionary in 2013: “The practice of watching several episodes of a TV show on one occasion, usually using DVDs or digital streaming.” However, a literature review reveals that the concept needs a standard definition. McNamara (2012) defines binge-watching as watching more than three episodes of a one-hour drama or at least six episodes of a 30-minute sitcom in one sitting, while Marsh et al. (2014) similarly define it as watching three or more episodes of the same TV show in one sitting. Perks (2015: ix) associates binge-watching with ‘media marathoning,’ a type of media engagement that captures a sense of immersion, effort, and accomplishment surrounding viewers’ media interactions. According to the most commonly used definition, it is a reception experience in which the viewer continuously watches more than two episodes of the same program in one sitting (Walton-Pattison et al., 2018: 3; Rubenking & Bracken, 2018: 5; Merikivi et al., 2019: 3-6; Turner, 2019: 1-9). Jenner (2020: 276) states that binge-watching is a term with a wide range of understanding and definitions at the center of contemporary television culture’s complexity and diversity.
Today, in addition to watching movies, TV series, documentaries, and television programs online, viewers spend much more time in front of the screen as it has become possible to watch these contents offline after recording them. The 21st century’s digital movie and TV series consumption method called binge-watching or binge-viewing, which constitutes a form of digital movie and TV series consumption, ‘binge-watching, sequential watching, non-stop watching, marathon watching, watching in one sitting’ allows viewers/users to watch especially TV series or programs in one go, with all seasons/episodes. In this way, the viewing preferences of viewers, who exhibit more effective and free behaviors, have also changed significantly.
Çaycı and Çaycı (2024: 66) also state that what makes a television series ‘binge’ watchable is not related to how it is broadcast or screened but how the viewers prefer to consume the content. Diker (2020: 152-153)draws attention to the fact that viewers become the objects ofconsumption for hours without interruption at the end of this process,turning into a simple mass in the Baudrillardian sense. Users who desireto consume content consecutively become the objects of the consumersociety by individualizing their consumption practices within the spiralthey enter. Indeed, according to Bauman (1998: 221-222),‘consumption’ makes one’s life individual. The only way to become anindividual is to consume alone and according to their tastes. A personwho does not consume is unlikely to become an individual.
On the other hand, what the viewers watch and when they watch is no longer determined by the broadcasting organizations but directly by the person in control. As Chalaby (2023: 3) points out, the transition from traditional broadcasting to streaming is taking place on this basis. In addition to the broadcast strategies of the platforms and the broadcast catalogs consisting of rich content they offer, the creation of a new viewers profile also involves the use of recommendation pools created with algorithms such as ‘collaboration filtering, cinematch methods’ that evaluate which content viewers watch, search for and like in order to maximize the pleasure received from consumption.
It is possible to say that the technological features of Netflix, which uses binge-watching as a broadcasting strategy, such as easy membership creation, the option to cancel at any time, the ability to download, play, pause, and continue watching content without committing, accessing content from different devices, and creating different profiles and watch lists through a single membership, are also practical in the transformation of viewing practices. Medin & Kaymak (2022: 75) state that the act of binge-watching has also changed in today's world and emphasize that some users who find the act of binge-watching slow have adopted the habit of binge-racing and that they strive to finish all episodes of the new seasons of the content uploaded to the platforms within 24 hours.
A literature review reveals that binge-watching research intensified after 2013 in the world and 2019 in Türkiye. This study aims to systematically evaluate the articles on binge-watching in Türkiye between 2019 and 2023 to determine how viewing habits on digital platforms have changed over time and around which themes these changes have been shaped. A total of 20 studies (research articles)9 obtained from DergiPark and TR Index databases were analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The articles were analyzed using eight main themes (year of publication, language of publication, purpose of the research, method of the research, sample, data collection tools, associated variables, and results) by sub-coding.