TILL NETFLIX DOES US PART
Infidelity has donned a new avatar: when you have got so hooked to binge-watching, you don’t wait for your spouse to join the show
There was a time when the family that ate together stayed together. Today, it would suffice to say the family that streams together, may just have greater chances of staying together. The exaggeration is not exactly unfounded. Netflix recently decided to give its intended audience — the modern, urban couple — a reality check by revealing the findings of a study that claims that 46% of the streaming couples around the world are ‘Netflix cheats’.
Heaven would not have fallen on earth had Tarun UD chosen not to give in to his temptation. Yet, it did. An RJ with the radio station City 1016, one of the daily rituals of his life with wife Aishwarya was to watch vampire shows on Netflix. Having binged on Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Teen Wolf, the couple had become vampire fiction aficionados. Working odd hours also meant that it was an unstated pact to watch every single episode of their favourite shows together.
Aishwarya fondly remembers, “Even on days when he came home early, he would order takeaway for me, clean up, do the chores and wait for me to come home to watch Netflix together.” Until one day, when Aishwarya came home and tuned in to Season 4 of Vampire Diaries. “It’s a particularly crucial season because the original vampires make their first appearance and make way for their spin-off eventually.” A red mark underneath each episode of Season 4 meant that all the episodes had already been watched. “Not to sound over dramatic, but I felt left behind in an exercise that was supposed to bring us together and was supposed to be ‘our’ thing.”
Not one to take it on the chin, Aishwarya confronted Tarun, asking him if he had moved on. He smiled and assured her they could watch it again, but Aishwarya sought revenge. “I tuned into Teen Wolf, from beginning to end, and even left him little spoiler notes on WhatsApp. He still laughs it off but I think I proved my point,” says Aishwarya.
In the pre-digital world, the family that ate together stayed together. Today, it would suffice to say the family that streams together, has greater chances of staying together. Our exaggeration is not exactly unfounded. On the eve of Valentine’s Day this year, Netflix gently burst a romantic bubble by revealing the stats on ‘Netflix cheating’ that is apparently on the rise the world over. According to a survey, apparently “46 per cent of streaming couples around the world have ‘cheated’ on their significant other”. This year, the UAE also featured in the list (Netflix forayed into this region last year), and the figures here are equally alarming —50 per cent of couples who were part of the Netflix study in the region admitted they had cheated, with 78 per cent respondents claiming that it was almost always “unplanned” while 58 per cent admitted it was an “uncontrollable urge” to find out what happened next that drove them to, well, cheat.
For those still wondering, Netflix cheating is a term used to describe the moment when an individual watches episodes of a show “ahead of the person s/he is committed to watching it with”. However, take the stats out of the picture and you may just find yourself asking — what is the big deal about Netflix cheating? On paper, nothing really. Yet, for modern couples watching a show together could mean renewing their vows and testing them in fast forward mode. So, you cheer for Elizabeth when she is crowned Queen of England in The Crown, feel Joyce Bryers’ pain as she sets out to search for her son Will in Stranger Things and get to loathe Frank and Claire Underwood together in House of Cards. Bipin Mulani, who cheated on his wife with Netflix by watching episodes of Orange Is The New Black alone, admits that it is an important ritual. “A relationship goes through different phases. It’s good to have other common interests, which can result in interesting conversations other than babies, schools, shopping, etc.”
You may find yourself making a case for regular TV shows and how watching them together could translate into the ‘Netflix Pact’. But Netflix spokesperson Jay Dattani argues that watching Netflix together is a more intimate experience. “With Netflix, couples can choose to watch a show together when they’re sitting next to each other on the sofa or even when they are thousands of miles apart. The content that they watch often becomes conversation starters and connection points through many parts of their lives. Couples can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. But with that freedom comes the potential to watch ahead with your partner. This behaviour is on the rise and our findings show that people are getting hooked on great shows and throwing promises out of the living room window to get the great entertainment fix they need.”
A higher rate of Netflix cheating and the fact that the term has entered the popular lexicon shows how big a game changer Netflix has become in this region and beyond. So, no points for guessing who is having the last laugh underneath the ‘grim’ stats.