Netflix brings a trove of streaming data out of the black box

The Future. Netflix released a report covering the viewership metrics of 99% of its catalog (roughly 18,000 original and licensed titles) that were released globally between January and June of this year and watched for at least 50,000 hours (which is little). While Netflix has historically been more transparent than its rivals, a report of this magnitude from the top platform is a paradigm shift for Hollywood and will likely force every other streamer to follow suit, reshaping the conversation of what defines a “hit.”

Netflix Wrapped
Netflix’s most surprising release of the year may just be its viewership report What We Watched.

• The searchable Excel spreadsheet breaks down projects by title, hours viewed, release date, and whether a title was released globally.
• While Netflix Originals dominated the list, 55% of viewing was for Originals, while 45% was for licensed titles.
• Although Netflix’s Top 10 and Most Popular lists now break down metrics by “views” (to not overly favor long drama shows), co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that this report still gives a clear view of how titles are doing on the platform.

While Sarandos stresses that the Hollywood strikes weren’t the reason for Netflix to finally become this transparent about data, he did acknowledge that the culture of keeping viewership details close to the chest was responsible for “creating an atmosphere of mistrust over time.” The strikes made that loud and clear.

Netflix plans to release these reports semi-annually… so hopefully, that helps to rebuild trust.