Netflix is providing an unprecedented look into its streaming data

Yesterday, Netflix released its first “What We Watched” report, which, similar to the James Webb Space Telescope, provides a look into something the public has never seen before – viewership stats on nearly all of its shows and movies.

The streamer has long had a reputation for lack of data transparency, which co-CEO Ted Sarandos yesterday acknowledged has led to some distrust in the creator community. Though, as Sarandos also acknowledged, the streamer kept its viewership data private so it could experiment while not giving away data to competitors.

But we’re now living in *Aladdin voice* a whole new worldddd – one that’s demanding more transparency. Hollywood’s actors and writers both mentioned access to viewership data during their strikes this year (in order to align pay with success), and brands advertising on Netflix’s ads tier are wanting info about how frequently certain shows and movies are watched, CNBC reports.

Some findings from the report, which analyzed 18,000+ titles and ~100 billion hours viewed between January-June 2023:

• Season 1 of The Night Agent was the most viewed show, with ~812 million hours watched.
• The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez, was the most viewed movie, with ~250 million hours watched.
• Netflix originals were like a bodybuilder doing a set of rows – pulling their own weight. Viewing hours were nearly split between Netflix originals, which accounted for 55% of time watched, and licensed content, which accounted for 45%.

👀 Looking ahead… Netflix plans to update this report every six months.