2023-12-12 20:50:39
Published on Dec 12 2023 at 9:50 p.m.
For a long time, video streaming giants have been reluctant to give precise figures to attest to the success or failure of the programs they broadcast. What if this was changing? Industry leader Netflix announced on Tuesday the publication twice a year of an “engagement report” indicating the number of hours viewed worldwide for all titles, original or licensed, that have been viewed for at least more than 50,000 hours (as well as their launch date and whether or not they are available worldwide).
This is an “important step for our industry,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during a telephone press conference. “Over time, we have become more and more transparent,” he said, noting that when the platform was launched 16 years earlier, revealing this kind of data to compare it with television consumption at the request would have amounted to comparing “apples to oranges”.
“An environment of mistrust around data”
It also risked giving too much information to competitors. “Over time, this lack of transparency has had the unintended consequence of creating an environment of mistrust around data,” admitted Ted Sarandos. But Netflix has grown and the platform, which has notably offered a weekly top 10 since 2021, now wants to provide the industry, in particular “creators” (such as producers, actors or screenwriters) and the press, with transparency. that they have been demanding for a long time.
Advertisers benefit from data provided by third parties (in certain markets), explained Ted Sarandos, notably by Nielsen in the United States. In France, Médiamétrie is working on measuring the consumption of all platforms in 2024.
The group’s boss believes that the criterion of the number of hours viewed, chosen by Netflix in this report, is the one that best reflects the commitment of subscribers. In total, the scores of more than 18,000 titles, covering 99% of viewing on the platform, appear in the first edition of this report. Global scores, the platform believing that data by country would give too much information to its rivals.
A third of non-English speaking stories
At the top of the global charts in the first half of 2023, season 1 of “The Night Agent”, with 812 million hours viewed, is ahead of season 2 of “Ginny & Georgia” – 665 million hours viewed –, followed by the first seasons of the Korean series “The Glory” then the spin-off series from the Adams family, “Wednesday”.
If non-English-speaking stories generated 30% of all viewings, no French series appears in the top 100 of the ranking (“Lupin”, released this fall, might save the honor in the second half). The summit is dominated by American series with the presence of numerous Korean productions as well. Local series, however, aim to succeed above all in their country of origin, underlined the boss of Netflix.
Note, sub-licensed films and series – such as “Suits”, a big success on the platform – represented around 45% of hours viewed, compared to 55% for original productions. Conversely, Netflix does not plan to license its content elsewhere, said Ted Sarandos.
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