Netflix releases global viewer data on every show, film for first time

By Lucas Shaw

Netflix Inc. is ready to tell the world how many people watch its shows.
 

On Tuesday, the company released global midyear viewer data for every title on its service, the first of what Netflix said will be regular reports.

The political thriller The Night Agent was the most-watched title globally in the first half of 2023, generating 812.1 million hours of viewing, Netflix said. That was followed by Season 2 of the family drama Ginny & Georgia and the debut of The Glory, a South Korean series. Ginny & Georgia delivered the biggest audience if you consider all seasons of a show. 

The disclosure by Netflix — the most-detailed ever for any streaming service — follows a months-long fight between Hollywood labor unions and major studios. In the wake of two strikes, writers and actors won more compensation for their work in streaming, and their pay hinges in part on greater disclosure of US viewer data by services like Netflix.

Now, the company is giving everyone — viewers, suppliers and competitors — a deeper look into what people are watching with the semiannual “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report.”

“Over the last 16 years of streaming one constant has been people asking for more viewership data,” Netflix co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos said on a call with journalists. 

The lack of transparency created “mistrust over time” with creatives, he said.

For years, Netflix refused to disclose viewership figures, with other major streaming services following suit. And Hollywood’s creative community initially appreciated not being subject to the Nielsen audience ratings that shows live and die by on broadcast and cable television.

More recently, writers and producers have criticized Netflix, arguing it was hiding audience data to avoid paying more for its most successful programs.

The streaming giant has begun disclosing more data. Its reporting includes audience figures for a handful of popular titles and weekly top 10 lists revealing the most-watched movies and TV shows in English and other languages.

Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, publishes these lists for individual countries as well, though it doesn’t include the hours viewed. 

The top 10 lists have given the public a pretty good sense of what shows are popular, but don’t offer figures for the vast majority of titles available.

The data released Tuesday cover more than 18,000 titles, including thousands of films and shows that generated between 50,000 hours and 100,000 hours.