Netflix publishes its first biannual audience report
Netflix (NFLX) is doubling down on its audience transparency.
On Tuesday, the streaming giant released its first biannual viewing report called "What we saw: A Netflix engagement report".
The report, which covers six months of data, includes hours watched for each title (original and licensed) watched over 50,000 hours, the release date of any Netflix TV series or movie, and whether a title was available at any time. global level.
In total, Netflix said the report covers more than 18,000 titles, representing 99% of all viewing on Netflix, and nearly 100 billion hours watched.
"The Night Agent" Season 1, which premiered on March 23, took the top spot after racking up 812 million hours watched as of the end of June. The second season of "Ginny and Georgia" came in second with more than 665 million hours watched after its debut on January 5.
โWednesdayโ Season 1 rounded out the top three with nearly 508 million hours of viewing. It should be noted that the series premiered in November 2022, making the viewing figures especially impressive.
"This is our data, and it's our accurate data," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at a news conference with reporters. "It is the data we use to run the business that we share with you. The fact that we collect the data to provide it to a third party to provide it to you seems like a lot of steps in something that is already quite a lot of work" .
Licensed content accounted for a significant portion of viewing hours, as shows like โSuitsโ gained new life on the platform. From January to June 2023, 55% of viewing came from Netflix movies and series and 45% from licensed titles.
Still, Netflix doesn't plan to license its own content to competitors anytime soon.
"The interesting thing is that a show like 'Suits,' which has been playing in the US for a long time, has been available on Peacock and was available on Amazon for a couple of years before it came to Netflix, and yet we were able unlock it. this huge, huge global audience," Sarandos said in response to Yahoo Finance's question on the call about reclassifying its licensing strategy. "That's the combination of our large subscriber base and our recommendation system that put 'Suits' in front of the people who would love it the most."
"I don't think that necessarily happens the other way around," he continued. "I think we can add tremendous value when we license content, I'm not sure it's reciprocal."
Netflix shares remained weak in afternoon trading Tuesday, but are up more than 50% since the beginning of the year.
