Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor star in the Netflix series “Bridgerton.”
Netflix
The makers are happy: Netflix is finally publishing viewership statistics for almost all of its series and films.
Netflix released its first “What We Watched” report on Tuesday, ranking nearly all of its shows and movies by the number of hours watched in the last six months. Netflix will release updated reports every six months, the company said.
Netflix has long been known for a lack of transparency about the popularity of its series and films. This has led to some distrust of the creator community, admitted co-CEO Ted Sarandos during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. Netflix kept its viewership data secret as it built its business so it could experiment without sharing data with potential competitors, Sarandos said.
“This is the actual data we use to run the company,” Sarandos said. “I am co-CEO of a publicly traded company, so sharing bad information has consequences.”
Netflix now has almost 250 million subscribers worldwide, far surpassing any other streaming service. This gives Sarando the confidence that he can be open about the viewership statistics. Both Hollywood actors and writers cited increased transparency during their strikes earlier this year as they pushed for them to be paid based on how audiences consume their content. Netflix has also introduced an advertising tier that calls for more transparency as brands want information about how often certain series and films are watched.
“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 the creators and for the press,” Sarandos said.
“The Night Agent: Season 1,” a Netflix original action thriller, was the service's most-watched show in the last six months with 812 million hours watched. “The Mother,” starring Jennifer Lopez, was the streaming service’s top film. From January to June, 55% of Netflix viewership came from original films and series and 45% from licensed titles, Sarandos said.
Netflix disclosed viewing information for more than 18,000 titles, representing 99% of all titles watched, and all titles were watched for more than 50,000 hours.
Read Netflix's report here.
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