TV Series Duration Calculator
Table of contents
FAQsWelcome to the TV series duration calculator. TV shows have been increasing in popularity for many years now, and that probably won't change for a while. Even if you haven't watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars, The Wire, The Witcher, Breaking Bad, or Friends, your friends have probably been going on and on about them, so you know that they're addictive.
If you're up-to-date with your favorite series, you probably have the date the new season airs written on your calendar and can recall it at any given time of the day or night (or you simply know which day of the week you download it because it won't air on your local TV for another 2 years). Either way — once a TV series has become a significant part of our daily routine, we hardly realize how much time we spend thinking about it, let alone watching it.
This calculator lets you do the maths quickly. Simply insert:
- Average episode duration.
- Number of episodes per season.
- Number of seasons the show is airing for.
The tool will quickly return how much time you could be spending on your favorite show. It should come in very handy if you're just starting a series that premiered a few years back or you want to rewatch your favorite childhood show and need to know how long you should book off work.
And if you're thinking about reclaiming your time and watching less TV, you might find some of our tools useful. You can begin with the TV alternatives calculator to get some ideas of other ways to spend your free time ⏱ Do you enjoy books? With the audiobooks calculator, you can estimate how many audiobooks you can complete while working out or doing chores at home 🧹, and the reading time calculator will help you find out how long it will take you to finish reading a book! 📚
How do I calculate the duration of a TV series?
To calculate the duration of a TV series, be sure to know the following:
- The number of episodes per season;
- The number of season; and
- The average length of each episode.
Multiply these values to find the duration of the TV series. If you want to be even more accurate, consider special episodes of greater length or count the episodes in each season individually.
How long would it take me to watch a TV series?
To calculate how long it would take you to watch an entire TV series, follow these easy steps:
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Calculate the duration of the series: multiply the average length of an episode by the number of episodes (equal to the number of episodes per season times the number of seasons).
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Decide how long you want to watch the series every day or week.
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If you plan a more relaxed experience, you can convert from days to weeks dividing the former by
7. -
Divide the length of the series by your planned commitment.
That's it!
How long would it take me to watch all of The Simpsons?
The Simpsons is the longest TV series currently airing on television. With 34 seasons, and almost 22 episodes per season, the series counts 740 episodes.
To calculate how long it would take you to watch all of The Simpsons, multiply the number of episodes by the average length of one of them, 22 minutes: 22 min × 740 = 16,280 min. This number corresponds to about 271 hours, or just above 11 days of uninterrupted watching!
Why are TV series episodes 22 minutes or 45 minutes long?
The reason behind the typical duration of 22 or 45 minutes lies in TV listing slots. Most sitcoms or animation shows receive half-hour slots, which, considering the additional time for a couple of ad breaks, allows for a 20 to 24-minute duration of each episode. The same holds for drama series: in this case, the allotted slot is one hour long, which, doubling the advertisement times we considered before, leaves space for 40 to 50-minute long episodes.