Netflix knows EXACTLY when you become addicted to a show

How many times have you watched a pilot of a new show and said, “Meh”? I know it took me three viewings of the pilot for Game of Thrones before I got hooked (I know…I KNOW!) Most shows take a certain amount of episodes until people get into them (and keep watching), and Netflix gets that. In fact, Netflix knows all about this thanks to all the data they collect on the daily, trying to figure out the exact moment when we finally fall for a show.

The company just released some info about our viewing habits around the globe, namely the precise episode in which 70 percent of viewers went on to marathon the rest of a season —which is how the company concluded whether a person would keep watching the show. The Los Angeles Times states, “A hooked episode, according to Netflix, was defined when 70% of viewers who watched that episode went on to complete the first season.” The data was pulled from 16 markets, (including the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, among others) and it seems there were few variations in when viewers became fans.

However, Netflix only narrowed it down to episode —not the exact episode moment. The Los Angeles Times explains, “The data only identified which episode served as the clincher for most viewers; it did not identify what moments in that particular episode served as the catalyst for a viewer to become hooked.”

Mad Men, for example, got us good in Season 1 Episode 6, “Babylon,” which is when Peggy first started writing copy for Sterling-Cooper (which I’m sure was a hook for many on Team Olson). With Sons of Anarchy, it only took a second episode to recruit most viewers into the lives of Jax and the rest of the club (and with Charlie Hunnam as the lead, who can blame them?)

Here’s the full list Netflix released via Time:

• Arrow — Episode 8
• Bates Motel — Episode 2
• Better Call Saul — Episode 4
• Bloodline — Episode 4
• BoJack Horseman — Episode 5
• Breaking Bad — Episode 2
• Dexter — Episode 3
• Gossip Girl — Episode 3
• Grace & Frankie — Episode 4
• House of Cards — Episode 3
• How I Met Your Mother — Episode 8
• Mad Men — Episode 6
• Marco Polo — Episode 3
• Marvel’s Daredevil — Episode 5
• Once Upon a Time — Episode 6
• Orange is the New Black — Episode 3
• Pretty Little Liars — Episode 4
• Scandal — Episode 2
• Sense8 — Episode 3
• Sons of Anarchy — Episode 2
• Suits — Episode 2
• The Blacklist — Episode 6
• The Killing — Episode 2
• The Walking Dead — Episode 2
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — Episode 4

Now that Netflix has released Season 1 of Gotham, The Mysteries of Laura, and Madame Secretary, you may want to pay attention and see at what point you get hooked. Netflix doesn’t claim to know the secret sauce of why we start binging when we do, but you can bet there’s someone out there already analyzing all these episodes to make a future super show.

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(Image via Netflix)