Netflix studies how many episodes it takes before a viewer begins to binge

Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, left, and Robin Wright as Clair Underwood in a scene from 'House of Cards' (Netflix / Nathaniel E. Bell)

TORONTO -- Netflix original series share something in common with shows that first aired on conventional TV networks: they all generally failed to hook viewers with their first episodes, according to new research by the streaming service.

Netflix analyzed global streaming data for the first seasons of several popular shows looking for signs of when people latched onto a specific title and began bingeing.

Acclaimed cable hits "Breaking Bad" and "The Walking Dead" and Toronto-filmed legal drama "Suits" had Canadians hooked by the second episode.

Canadians were on board by the third episode of Netflix political drama "House of Cards," while newcomers "Bloodline," "Grace and Frankie" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" had fans reeled in by their fourth episodes.

It took, on average, more than four hours of watching "Mad Men" -- or six episodes in -- for Canadians fans to get hooked on the critically lauded series.

It also took six episodes for Canadian fans of the Netflix superhero series "Daredevil" to decide they really liked it.

According to Netflix, 70 per cent of viewers who watched the "hooked" episode would go on to watch the full season.

"It's been conventional wisdom that the pilot is the most important 30 minutes in the life of a show and it turns out it's rarely the thing that hooks people," said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos in an interview.

"(That's) not to say that no one ever got hooked by a pilot, but we didn't see a lot of it in the data.

"I also think the audiences have more patience than the networks give them credit for," he added.

"They will invest more time in a story if they believe there's going to be a payoff there.... But it might take 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes to really get enough information for you to decide if you want to invest with these characters and with this world."

"Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman has decades of network experience under her belt. But the veteran showrunner said Netflix encouraged a fresh approach to crafting the pilot for her new series "Grace and Frankie," which stars screen legends Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

"(They said): 'We don't call them pilots, we call them the first chapter. Think of them like a book," recalled Kauffman.

"The freedom that the writer gets from that is not having to establish every single character and every single thing and 'What's all of their back stories?' You don't have to do that for Netflix. They allow for the growth of the information and the growth of the story.

"Pilots are generally the worst episode of the season because you have to do so much."

Sarandos said the ability to binge-watch programming has likely had an impact on conventional networks, which are now giving shows more time to build followings.

"You're not seeing shows cancelled in their first week like we were a couple of years ago," he said.

"Because of that full season order, you can invest in a show and actually make a better show than trying to do a pilot. And every week, everyone's writing for their lives trying to keep the show on the air."