Spoiler alert: TiVo commissioned a big survey on spoilers recently, with the goal of finding out how people really feel about learning plot details they haven’t seen yet and how, exactly, those plot details get delivered. Spoiler alert: You stupid friends and co-workers are most likely the culprits.
When listing all of the ways respondents have been spoiled before, the highest, at 65 percent, is by friends, acquaintances and co-workers, followed by 59 percent reporting the spoiler came from news headlines on the Internet. Additionally, 57 percent say live TV has been the cause, while 49 percent blame Facebook.
Spoiler alert: The reactions to getting something spoiled are actually spread out pretty evenly, with 33% getting angry and 27% not thinking it’s a big deal. In fact, spoiler alert, 28% of people say they intentionally seek out spoilers even though they plan on watching the program later. Spoiler alert: It’s almost like the minority of people who get upset about it are the loudest group when discussing the issue.
To combat the problem — SPOILERS AHEAD — many people say they take precautions, including asking nicely (67%), avoiding social media (67%) and certain websites (63%), and avoiding live TV (53%) until they get caught up. The issue gets even trickier when you factor in time zones (spoilers), as only 13% of people living in the eastern half of the country consider that other people may be behind them when discussing shows, which is probably why 30% of people on the west coast avoid the Internet completely when a show they enjoy is airing.
Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. The end.
