Netflix Cheating Haunts 46% of Couples

With the growth in easily accessible and streamable content, the way we watch our shows has changed over the past decade. Without having to be tied down to a set TV schedule, couples can now jump ahead of their viewing partners, a new trend called “Netflix Cheating”. In a new study conducted by the streaming giant, it seems that 46% of streaming couples will cheat on their partner and skip ahead to later episodes without letting their partner know.

In the past 3 years since the Netflix started studying this phenomenon, the numbers have kept going up. Some of the worse offenders are in Brazil and Mexico while the Netherlands, Germany and Poland are among the most loyal. So far, it doesn’t look like any one show demographic is more disloyal than others, with occurrences in pretty much every show.

As you might expect from a morally grey area, different people have different perspectives. Most cheating happens when the partner is otherwise occupied or fell asleep. More than 61% of Netflix users would cheat if they could get away with it and 81% of strayers are serial cheaters. Of course, about half of cheaters would never admit to the practice.

Surprisingly, the ramifications of Netflix cheating have real world consequences. 18% of couples have had real life arguments over the issue and 14% think that it’s worse than a real world affair. One thing for sure though, the root cause of all this cheating is that the shows are simply too good and viewers simply can’t hold back.