What Is The Key to Producing "Binge-Worthy" Content?

graphic image that says, "Denzel Washington is the greatest actor of all time period."

Why is this podcast binge-worthy? 

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Maybe you watch a lot of YouTube videos or stream a lot of TV shows.

The thing these three kinds of media have in common is that they have the potential to be "binge-able": you can find yourself playing the back catalog for hours until you've heard or seen every minute. 

They feel like a book that you just can't put down. You just have to know what happens. 

When you blog, one of your aims should be to create binge-worthy content. I know it's one of mine.

I don't want to create a blog that just anyone can binge on. I want to create a blog that my ideal client just can't stop reading; she's compelled to immediately start scouring the back catalog. 

How does one do this? 

I thought I'd try to figure it out by looking at my own experience. The shows I've binged on all have one thing in common--a well-defined format. The format allows their audience to know what they will get from the show, and it allows their shows to appeal to a narrow audience. A narrow audience means a smaller audience, perhaps, but it also means a much more passionate, devoted audience.

These are people who love talking about and thinking about your content, who will share it across social media, talk to their friends and family about it. They are advocates. 

One show that I think epitomizes this theory is the podcast Denzel Washington Is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period. The format: review each Denzel Washington movie in alphabetical order.  

That's... pretty narrowly focused. 

But, because the hosts are smart, funny, and in show-business themselves, they are able to discuss an endless array of issues within this frame that involving show-business, race and ethnicity, movie tropes and stereotypes, talent, luck, fandom, making it as an artist, and much, much more.

So, because DWITGAOATP has an crystal-clear format that its hosts are committed to, all those topics don't seem disorganized or unrelated to each other. They all relate back to the show's reason for being. 

I think a blog can cultivate the same kind of following by promising a certain format and then continue to deliver within that framework. 

What do you think? 

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