Everybody likes to talk about their favourite movies and TV shows, but nobody wants to have the latest big twist ruined for them. In our fast-moving world of social media and on-demand viewing, have the rules around spoilers changed?
If you often find yourself wondering when you need to keep your mouth shut and when you can speak freely, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Keep reading as we reveal our modern-day guide to spoiler etiquette.
We surveyed the nation to uncover the truth about our experience with spoilers. And it seems like they’re still a big problem. Not only can spoilers ruin the latest movie or TV show for us, they can even go as far as to damage personal relationships.
According to our research, people are taking some pretty drastic measures to avoid spoilers for their favourite TV shows and movies.
Looking to get rid of some of your tech? Get an instant price for an iPad trade in.
You need to wait 33 hours after a TV show airs before discussing spoilers
You need to wait 10 days after a film is released before discussing spoilers
You’re most likely to stumble across spoilers in Manchester, with 11.44% of Mancunians admitting to sharing spoilers online. London comes in second, with 11.28% of people in the capital having shared spoilers.
11.44
Manchester
11.28
London
11.24
Newcastle
10.29
Cardiff
10.17
Sheffield
8.20
Belfast
7.55
Glasgow
7.32
Leeds
7.14
Plymouth
6.67
Liverpool
5.73
Birmingham
5.66
Nottingham
4.30
Southampton
3.92
Bristol
3.28
Norwich
3.23
Brighton
2.90
Edinburgh
It’s good news for people in Scotland, as Edinburgh comes out as the most spoiler-free city, with only 2.9% of people saying they’ve shared spoilers online, followed by Brighton with 3.23%.
We analysed millions of tweets, looking at the most popular TV shows of the past decade, to see which were spoiled the most.
# | Show | No. of spoiler tweets | Most spoiled episode |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Game of Thrones | 2,351,178 | S8 E3: The Long Night |
2 | The Walking Dead | 734,794 | S7 E1: The Day Will Come When You Won't Be |
3 | Breaking Bad | 316,833 | S5 E16: Felina |
4 | Doctor Who | 289,126 | S11 E1: The Woman Who Fell to Earth |
5 | Stranger Things | 217,912 | Season 2 Netflix Premiere (31/10/17) |
6 | House of Cards | 137,922 | Season 2 Netflix Premiere (14/2/14) |
7 | American Horror Story | 75,574 | S3 E13: The Seven Wonders |
8 | Westworld | 50,210 | S2 E1: Journey into Night |
9 | Hannibal | 49,106 | S3 E13: The Wrath of the Lamb |
10 | Black Mirror | 45,865 | Season 4 Netflix Premiere (29/12/17) |
Data sourced from Twitter, with conversation analysed from the date the first episode of each show aired until 30th May 2019. Data looks at global conversation in English language.
Survey results based on questionnaire of 2,000 UK adults aged 16 and above, completed in May 2019.