How I Watched in 2015

Part 1: How I Watched in 2015

As I started to consume the annual deluge of end-of-year Best Of lists, I found myself disappointed in the number of movies and TV shows I had actually consumed in the calendar year. This led me to break down my viewing by platform to discover just how I consumed TV, movies, and online series.

I relied on my Netflix viewing history (across two profiles), my Amazon Digital Purchase history, iTunes email receipts, my IMDb ratings, and for Comcast viewing, my memory.

To the best of my ability, my media diary for 2015:

• Movie Theater (10): While We’re Young, Trainwreck, Straight Outta Compton, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jurassic World, Black Mass, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, The Martian, Creed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Physical Media (1): Mad Max: Fury Road Blu-Ray
• Comcast, Live TV (2 very important TV shows, sports and channel surfing): Mad Men s7, Justified s7, sporting events, and several episodes of shows not followed religiously (Broad City, Inside Amy Schumer, etc.)
• Finished Seasons via Comcast DVR, On Demand (11): Fargo s2, The Americans s3, Veep s3, Game of Thrones s5, The Jinx, You’re The Worst s2, New Girl s4, UnREAL s1, Nathan for You s3, Louie s5, Last Week Tonight
• Unfinished Seasons via Comcast DVR, On Demand (4): Parks and Recreation s7, Silicon Valley s2, Better Call Saul s1, True Detective s2
• Netflix subscription (13+): Making a Murderer, Best of Enemies, Master of None s1, Bloodline s1, The 100 s1, House of Cards s3, The Fall s2, How We Got to Now, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Welcome to Me, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Tig, Nightcrawler, and many episodes of Friends
• Amazon Prime (0): n/a
• Amazon Rentals (2): Ex Machina, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
• Amazon Library (3): Manhattan s1, The 100 s2, Last Man on Earth s1
• iTunes Rentals (14): Victoria, The Overnight, Margin Call*, About Time, Z for Zachariah, Force Majeure, Digging for Fire, Time Lapse*, Dear White People*, Whiplash, The Town, St. Vincent, A Most Wanted Man, Boyhood
  *Whoops, I didn’t actually get around to watching these.
• YouTube: The majority of Casey Neistat’s vlog, tons of late night TV clips

Part 2: Takeaways

All in all, I did better than expected, though the following jumped out at me:

• While Netflix binges always inspire completion, I did not keep up to date on most TV shows that I watched solely via cable. Some I simply gave up on, notably True Detective s2. Others, I simply ran out of time for, notably Better Call Saul, Silicon Valley, and Parks and Recreation (I feel pretty bad about this one).
• I still enjoy going to the movie theater, and wish I could have seen more movies. My only physical media purchase, Mad Max: Fury Road, is the direct result of my regret missing it on the big screen.
• Once a cord-cutter, I’ve maintained a Comcast subscription for Internet, my wife’s reality TV fix, and sports. We live by the DVR, and fill in the gaps with Netflix for TV shows, and movie rentals from iTunes on Apple TV and iPad, or from Amazon to watch on my PS4 in the rare occurrence that they have an exclusive or a better price than Apple.
• Fragmentation of online video has only grown in the last few years, with countless more subscription services, and ala-carte offerings that I’ve yet to try. I’ve still never paid for a Hulu subscription as I always felt the TV ad-load was an insult to paying customers. They’ve recently introduced a long overdue ad-free tier, but at a higher price point than Netflix or Amazon Prime, I intend to wait until their upcoming exclusives to spend more time there.
• I finally got hooked on YouTube via Casey Neistat’s daily vlog. Over the years I’ve subscribed to tons of channels, which has completely cluttered my experience. If I can arrive on the YouTube homepage and only see what I’m really interested in, I could see myself religiously following more prolific YouTube channels, rather than diving in only for the occasional viral video or movie trailer.

Part 3: New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Find some time to watch Better Call Saul s1, The Leftovers s2, Shameless s5, Rectify s2 and s3, and other incredible TV shows I’ve fallen behind on
2. Take advantage of Amazon Prime, especially their originals
3. Clean up my YouTube subscriptions to discover more channels worth returning to regularly, ala Casey Neistat
4. Give Hulu another chance as their originals roll out
5. Don’t miss movies that full advantage of the big screen while they are in the theater