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Introduction: New approaches to the study of the binge-watching phenomenon require new technology, leading to the development of a non-intrusive and low-cost analytical research software that facilitates a holistic understanding of binge-watching in an uncontrolled environment remotely (e.g., the home). BWDAT was developed to allow the collection of three types of data: users’ physiological data gathered from a smartwatch, users’ interactions from video-on-demand interfaces, and self-reported data. This tool offers the possibility to generate automatic data analysis reports, facilitating researchers’ data analysis tasks. Methods: Two trial studies and a long-term study were used to evaluate the design and the technical implementation of the BWDAT tool. The metrics used were the BWDAT smartwatch's App data coverage of the viewing sessions, and the data's reliability of the viewer's interactions with the Netflix interface, collected by the BWDAT Chrome Extension. Results: High percentages of data coverage and content coverage were verified in the sessions collecting the smartwatch's data. The reporting system developed proved to be useful in the collection and synchronization of physiological and users’ interaction data with Netflix interface, both generated in uncontrolled environments. Furthermore, the BWDAT tool facilitated the analysis of a large amount of nuanced data. Conclusion: The results obtained confirm the reliability, accuracy, and usability of BWDAT. This tool has the potential to help researchers shed new light on the field of media and audience studies, and in particular on binge-watching.

The growth of Internet-distributed TV services has transformed video consumption, enhancing the level of control that viewers have over what they watch. Along with the release of entire seasons of programming at once, this has led to the phenomenon of ‘binge-watching’, in which several episodes of a program are viewed in one sitting. This article presents the results of a novel exploratory study focused on 40 Netflix viewing sessions from 11 millennials in their homes. Methodologically, we employed a novel mixed-methods approach that combines objective data (collected through a browser extension) and subjective data (collected via questionnaires completed before and after viewing). This novel approach allowed us to describe the binge-watcher’s experience in a holistic fashion. Results suggest that binge-watching is an individual activity mainly performed at the end of the day to relax, for boredom relief purposes, or for escapism. Furthermore, a binge-watching session lasts for an average of 2 h and 10 min, and variations on binge-watchers’ affective states were identified after Netflix exposure. Participants’ levels of valence (unhappy–happy) significantly decreased after binge-watching; their positive affect values increased primarily after watching sci-fi, while their negative affect values decreased after watching comedy and slightly increased after watching drama. However, the levels of arousal (relaxed–stimulated) remained the same. This study extends our current understanding of binge-watching in terms of viewer motivations, how it affects their viewing experiences, and participants’ subjective affective states. The investigation contributes, thus