Pandemic binge: Netflix and the New Zealand experience of connected isolation

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced the way people do social interaction. One of the more recent forms that has become a phenomenon is watching online content together via Netflix Party, a subscription video-on-demand platform. Utilizing the uses and gratifications theory as the conceptual framework, the main objective of this research was to determine the factors that influence the virtual group-watching of Netflix Party. The 391 respondents who took part in the survey willingly responded to twenty statements broken down into five categories. SEM, or structural equation modelling, is implemented in the goodness-of-fit model. The outcomes of SEM brought to light that the factors of entertainment, engagement, social influence and binge-watching had a significant impact on group-watching in New Zealand through the Netflix Party feature on various digital channels during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, an informational factor was not shown to have an important aspect of the group-watching activities.