By Sam Coleman, Managing Director, NewGen
There was a time when television was an anchor – a fixed point in the day. Families would crowd around the screen, snacks in hand, waiting for the theme tune that signalled 7:30pm had arrived. For a generation raised on endless choice and on-demand everything, you’d think that kind of shared viewing would have vanished. But somehow, Gen Z are bringing it back – just in their own way.
While they might not be gathering for EastEnders or Friends reruns, shows like Love Island, The Summer I Turned Pretty and Wednesday have proved that appointment viewing isn’t dead, it’s just evolved for the algorithm age.
The difference is, the living room has moved. The group chat is the sofa, TikTok is the after-show, and Instagram comments are where the debates play out. Instead of waiting to debrief at work or school the next morning, reactions spill out in real time.
And where there’s shared attention, there’s opportunity. For brands, this new wave of communal viewing represents a chance to meet audiences where they actually connect by adding to the conversation around it.
The death of the binge, the rise of the buzz
The binge model once defined streaming culture – drop all ten episodes, devour them in a weekend, move on. It worked for a while. But it also killed the buzz. When everything is available instantly, nothing feels like an event.
Now, anticipation itself has become the hook.
Gen Z have grown tired of instant gratification. They want the slow build, the speculation, the weekly dose of drama to look forward to.
They want to live inside the stories, not just watch them.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a great example of this (no spoilers here, don’t worry). Prime Video’s decision to release episodes weekly turned a teen drama into a summer-long obsession. Each Wednesday became a ritual. TikTok feeds filled with fan edits, soundtracks, outfit recreations and debates over who deserved Belly’s heart – Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah. The fandom didn’t fade after launch, it snowballed.
And it worked. Amazon reported that the third season drew in 25 million global viewers in its first week, proof that suspense sells as much as storytelling.
Social media is the new sofa
Watching together no longer means being in the same room, it means being in the same algorithm. TikTok, Instagram and X have become the new water-coolers, the places where audiences react, remix and riff in real time.
A single episode of Euphoria doesn’t end when the credits roll. It explodes across feeds as memes, mood boards and trending audio, fragments of story that become culture in themselves. Fans truly co-create and shape how the show lives on, beyond the screen.
That’s what makes shared viewing so powerful for this generation. It’s less about television and more about belonging. Miss an episode and you’re more than behind on the plot, you’re entirely out of sync with the jokes, the memes, the group chat. And for Gen Z, that’s peak FOMO.
Rituals, fandoms, and identity
Gen Z aren’t passive audiences, they’re participants. They pick sides, build fandoms, and weave shows into their social fabric. A drop is an event that becomes part of their weekly rhythm. Whether it’s dissecting a plot twist on TikTok or hosting watch parties over Discord, this generation truly inhabits stories.
Weekly releases give fandoms the oxygen they need to grow. When viewers know a new episode lands every Thursday or Sunday, it becomes ritualistic – a collective beat of waiting, watching, reacting, and replaying. That rhythm breeds anticipation, and anticipation breeds loyalty – the kind of sustained attention binge-watching can never replicate.
For brands, this behaviour is a goldmine. It’s proof that consistency, pacing and participation matter more than volume. When audiences gather around a cultural moment, they’re not looking to be sold to – they’re looking to belong. The brands that understand this are the ones that find subtle, authentic ways to join in.
Content is community
Strip it all back, and what Gen Z are really showing us is that content isn’t the end goal, connection is.
For studios, streamers and storytellers, it means rethinking what engagement actually looks like. A show is something they become entirely involved in – they inhabit, interpret and extend.
And the same logic applies far beyond entertainment. The brands that win this generation’s attention aren’t thinking about creating conversations. They build anticipation, invite participation and make audiences feel part of something ongoing, not one-off.
We might not be circling programmes in a TV guide anymore, but the instinct to gather – to react, to connect, to belong – still runs deep.
Streaming changed how we watch. Social media reminded us why.
