I binge listened to Serial the same way I binge-watched The Wire and Breaking Bad. But I don't watch TV shows on a consistent basis. I rarely watch shows even by download. This might not be an important factor, but identifying non-traditional consumers being attracted to the content, consuming it and moving on might be a useful cohort or metric.<p>Second, I'd be cautious to say the format is the reason why it's popular. Such as saying that the TV-show like structure, and made it easy to consume, are the reason for binging. It is certainly why it is popular - for a podcast - but I doubt it's why it's popular in general. Content is king.<p>Not being a typical TV-show fan I only consume TV/podcasts that I hear (and turn out to be) exceptionally good from friends and reviews. Although I do listen to podcasts while I work (on a day to day basis).<p>Regarding the question of binging, well I think it could easily be 90% about quality of content. Quality such as Serial and The Wire are rare. So given the opportunity and access to all the media at once (thx to the internet) nothing stops us from consuming it all at once.<p>Anyone who wants to repeat this model, more quality content please. Which means content creators should focus most on good storytelling.. and less about the format and delivery. Hollywood should take note of this since they also seem to be obsessed with format over good storytelling. They seem to think CGI is an adequate replacement for good characters and drama.