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A trio of diehard viewers have broken the Guinness World Record for binge-watching after consuming 87 hours of programming over four days inside the just concluded TiVo booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas residents Dan Jordan, Spencer Larson and Chris Laughlin, who were allowed breaks of five minutes per hour to use the bathroom or nap, broke a record set in 2012 when two Californians watched episodes of Fox’s The Simpsons for over 86 hours. The viewers could bank the five-minute breaks, so the longest anyone slept at any one time was 80 minutes.
“When we arrived on Monday at 5 p.m., we had no idea what we were in for,” said Jordan, acting as spokesman for the three contestants. “It’s been a long week, but it’s been fun.”
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Chris Cashman was emcee for what was billed as the TiVo TV Binge-Viewing World Record Attempt. Volunteers acted as timekeepers and witnesses, making sure they followed the Guinness guidelines.
The contestants were allowed to eat and drink while they watched TV and could change channels, but they were not allowed to read or talk on the phone at the same time.
For winning, the three split a prize of $5,000 and each got a package of prizes, including a TV, TiVo Roamio with product lifetime service, iPad, Sonos system, gamer chair and a year of Netflix.
TiVo sponsored the stunt to promote its Roamio Series of TiVo boxes (three models cost from $200 to $600 each), which has four or six TV tuners and stores up to 450 hours of HD content. It requires a TiVo subscription. Tom Rogers, TiVo’s CEO called it “a true feat of persistence.”
TiVo came up with the stunt after recent research showed that 89 percent of their subscribers have binge-viewed at least once in recent months. The average binger did so eight times between August and October 2013.
According to TiVo, the shows that were most binge-watched in the survey were Breaking Bad, Castle, NCIA, Law & Order and The Walking Dead. TiVo did not list exactly what the trio of record breakers watched. But if you want to see for yourself, go here.
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