Netflix Releases First Biannual Viewing Report: ‘Massive Trove Of Data’
By Movieguide® Contributor
For the first time, Netflix is sharing viewing data in a report titled “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report.”
The information covers more than “18,000 titles — representing 99% of all viewing on Netflix — and nearly 100 billion hours viewed.”
“This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry,” the company wrote. “We believe the viewing information in this report — combined with our weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists — will give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences, and what resonates with them.”
Now, viewers can see what people watched on Netflix over six months (January to June 2023), including the hours viewed for titles watched for more than 50,000 hours for both Netflix originals and licensed TV shows and movies. It also reveals premiere dates for Netflix’s original TV series and films and whether a title is available globally.
Yahoo Finance’s Alexandra Canal, Josh Schafer and Brooke DiPalma discussed the details on an episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
“There’s some interesting stats in here with season one of the NIGHT AGENT amassing that top spot, while other Netflix originals like GINNY AND GEORGIA and WEDNESDAY also outperforming here,” Canal said. “And this is the first time we’re really seeing such comprehensive data. And the licensing picture of this all is interesting to me, because 45% of those top titles are licensed titles.”
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and VP of strategy and analysis Lauren Smith fielded calls from reporters about the findings of the report. Sarandos commented that while streaming viewership data transparency played a key role in the recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike negotiations, it did not influence Netflix’s decision to drop the report.
“This has been on a continuum for several years,” Sarandos said. “So this is not driven by anything differently than that. I think it’s really important, that’s why I did say earlier, that lack of data, lack of transparency, the unintended consequence was this kind of mistrust, this environment of mistrust around the data. So this is probably more information than you need, but I think it creates a better environment for the guilds, for us, for the producers, for creators and for the press.”
The platform has been successful in boosting library titles like SUITS, which saw a resurgence on Netflix in 2023. Yet, Sarandos revealed that the company has no interest in licensing its original content to competitors.
“What’s interesting is a show like SUITS, which has been played on USA for a long time, has been available on Peacock and has been available on Amazon for a couple of years before it hit Netflix, and yet we were able to unlock this enormous global audience for it,” Sarandos said. “And that’s the combination of our large subscriber base and our recommendation system that knew to put ‘Suits’ in front of people who were going to love it the most.”
He went on to say that he did not think “that would necessarily happen in reverse” and that going elsewhere was “not part of our business plan.”
Movieguide® applauds Netflix for releasing “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report” at a time when viewership transparency is critical.
Movieguide® previously reported on Netflix:
While the price for streaming services has ballooned in recent years, consumers may soon find reprieve through subscription bundles that heavily discount costs.
Verizon recently launched a subscription bundle for the ad-tier version of Netflix and Max priced at $10 per month, discounting $7 per month from the non-bundled price of each service. This deal is groundbreaking, as Netflix has long shied away from offering any discount on its standard pricing.
As streaming services have added ad-free and ad-supported subscription tiers, discounts like this are possible and open the door to similar deals in the future. Through the ad-tier level, Netflix makes more money the more people use the site rather than receiving a flat payment regardless of a user’s watch time.
Netflix executives say the basic ad tier makes the company more money per customer than its base ad-free tier.
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