'Netflix Cheating' Is Common—And It's On The Rise

Affairs aren't always physical; sometimes, they involve a remote control. As Vocativ reports, a new, Netflix-commissioned survey found that nearly half of respondents who stream with significant others “Netfix cheat," meaning they sneakily watch episodes of TV shows ahead of their partner.

SurveyMonkey conducted the study, which looked at data from 30,267 respondents. They crunched the numbers, and found that 46 percent of couples were guilty of Netflix infidelity. These individuals expressed little remorse: 45 percent didn’t confess the act to their partners, while 61 percent said they “would cheat more if they could get away with it.” Meanwhile, 81 percent of cheaters were repeat offenders, and had committed the 21st century crime more than once.

That being said, these betrayals weren’t always intentional. Eighty percent of the time, the “cheating” wasn’t planned, respondents said. As for the impetus behind their actions, 66 percent said a lack of self-control was to blame. (The "top cheating temptations” were addictive shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, American Horror Story, House of Cards, Orange is The New Black, Narcos, and Stranger Things.)

“In a binge-watching world where it's easy to say 'just one more,' Netflix cheating has quickly become the new normal," Netflix concluded in a statement.

Netflix conducted a similar survey in 2013; back then, only 12 percent admitted to having an affair with a TV show. In only four years, that number increased more than threefold. But even though this dishonest habit is on the rise, it’s still somewhat socially acceptable: 46 percent of respondents concluded that Netflix cheating is “not bad at all” (yes, that happens to be the exact same percent as those who said they'd cheated), in contrast to 18 percent of couples who said they’d gotten into a verbal fight about it.

Guilty of nefarious Netflix behavior yourself? Master the art of sneaky streaming by watching the video below.