Action series at number one
Netflix reveals secret about viewing figures
December 13, 2023, 4:49 a.m
Streaming providers announce what gets clicked well, but rarely give specific numbers. Netflix wants to change that and present figures for films and series twice a year in the future. The transparency offensive is intended to create trust. The top series in the first half of 2023 should surprise many.
Netflix is becoming more transparent when it comes to information about the success of films and series on the platform. For the first time, the streaming market leader published figures on how many hours thousands of films and series were watched in the first half of this year. Such reports should now be submitted twice a year.
While traditional television has a system of audience ratings that has been developed over decades, streaming services often keep a low profile when it comes to information about the success of their programs. Netflix has been publishing a ranking of the most popular titles for two years now.
Data is for Netflix control element
For Netflix, this was the right path in the early years because it didn’t want to provide rivals with data, said co-chief executive Ted Sarandos on a conference call. In some cases, this also led to mistrust on the part of the TV industry, even though more information was shared with the producers of the individual films and series. Publishing the information should clear this up. “It’s actually the data we use to drive our business,” Sarandos said.
According to the list now published, the first season of the series “The Night Agent” was the most watched title in the first half of 2023 – with a total of 812.1 million hours. At the same time, Netflix is restricting, so the numbers provide some guidance – but they are also put into perspective by the fact that series have different running times and films are generally shorter.
Sarandos emphasized that the publication of the data has nothing to do with the expansion of the advertising business, as the usual industry procedures are used with other services to measure viewer ratings. Since Netflix introduced a cheaper subscription with advertising, it has been quickly gaining customers – and the streaming service could attract more ad spending from traditional TV.