Guy Pearce says Netflix hates the term 'binge-watching' now, and told him not to use it in interviews
- Guy Pearce, who stars in the new Netflix original series "The Innocents," said in a recent interview that the company told him not to talk about "binge-watching" in interviews promoting the Netflix series.
- Though it's unclear exactly where the phrase "binge-watching" originated, Netflix did use the term in a press release as early as December 2013, the year it released its first original series, "House of Cards."
Though the rise of Netflix popularized the term "binge-watching" to describe how the company's subscribers tended to consume multiple episodes of a series in one sitting, Netflix now appears to have soured on the phrase.
Guy Pearce, who stars in the new Netflix original "The Innocents," said in an interview with Empire Magazine's film podcast (via IndieWire) that the company told him not to use the phrase "binge-watching" while promoting the series.
"I don't think Netflix likes the term 'binge,'" Pearce said when Empire asked him if viewers would binge-watch "The Innocents." "When we did the promotion for ['The Innocents'] in the [United States], we were strictly sort of instructed beforehand not to talk about 'binge-watching.'"
Pearce didn't elaborate on Netflix's reasoning for the policy, but one assumes that the company has taken issue with the term "binge" for its connection to disorders like binge-eating and binge-drinking. (Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter from Business Insider.)
It's unclear exactly where the phrase "binge-watching" originated. But Netflix did use the phrase in a press release as early as December 2013, the year it released its first big original series, "House of Cards," in promoting survey results that found binge-watching was a "widespread behavior" among TV audiences.
Pearce stars in the supernatural Netflix series "The Innocents" as a doctor who treats shapeshifting beings. The series debuted on August 24.