Talking loudly, deleting recorded shows and mocking other people's programmes' ruin TV

Families continue to watch television together but the behaviour of some relations can ruin the entire experience., a study has found. 

Talking loudly, deleting episodes and overt criticism can all contribute to a negative experience and outweighing the benefits of watching TV as a family unit.  

Research teams from Lancaster and Warwick University studied 29 UK households for their paper and also found streaming services need to do more to counter the problems of communal viewing.

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Although households still gather for group viewings of their favourite shows, this is often ruined by individual behaviours, such as talking loudly, deleting episodes and overt criticism

Although households still gather for group viewings of their favourite shows, this is often ruined by individual behaviours, such as talking loudly, deleting episodes and overt criticism.

It comes shortly after Netflix introduced their own quality control contract, which regulate the way they people watch TV together.  

This urges people not to fall asleep, get distracted by their phone, reveal spoilers, watch episodes without other people present and not to be negative about a another individual’s viewing choice. 

However, according to the new data, this isn’t doing enough to minimise destructive behaviour.     

Lead author Dr Helen Bruce, of Lancaster University Management School’s Marketing Department, said: ‘From our research, we found families value more than just watching TV together, though the ability to do so – and to customise those experiences – remains extremely important, and a key reason why families continue to spend often significant sums of money each month on TV subscriptions.

‘In fact, our research shows that families who work together to choose which TV packages (and elements thereof) to have within their home, who learn together how to use the ever-evolving technologies, who plan what and when they will watch together, and who meaningfully discuss their viewing experiences, will ultimately derive more value from their subscription.

‘However, value can be destroyed where family members don’t or can’t master the various technologies, and where family members don’t have equal ownership and control over the TV and its benefits.

Quality control? It comes shortly after Netflix introduced their own quality control contract, which regulate the way they people watch TV together

‘Perhaps more importantly for TV subscription companies trying to maintain a position within a household, value can be destroyed where the actions of one family member are detrimental to others. For instance, a person might disrupt family viewing by talking loudly, delete recorded shows that someone else wanted to watch, or make disparaging comments about another party’s tastes in TV shows.

‘Firms need to think about how they can facilitate collaboration among families in their use of subscription TV.

‘For example, there is the potential to use technologies such as Alexa to identify areas of value destruction and to intervene – for instance, by detecting when one person regularly talks during a certain programme, and setting up a recording, so nothing is missed.’

71 individuals took part, ranging from eight to 57 years old. Households were located throughout the UK and were of varying socio-economic status.    

Household types included couples, families with children of varying ages, and young professionals sharing a home; single-person households were excluded due to the focus on collective consumption. 

Dr Bruce added: ‘Service providers need to provide resources that are easily integrated into consumers’ lives, as well as providing reliability and quality. They also need to respond to common problems, where patterns of behaviour which cause difficulties – and thus a loss of value – are repeated across users.’

The study is published in the Journal of Business Research.