(NewsNation) — Netflix has taken a step towards transparency by releasing global viewership data for over 18,000 titles on its platform during the first half of 2023.
The release of their “What We Watched” report was aimed at providing insight into the performance of both original and licensed shows, representing 99% of all viewing on the streaming service during the specified period.
Topping the list of Netflix’s most-watched hits was “The Night Agent,” an action thriller series based on the eponymous book, which garnered 812.1 million hours of viewership.
Following closely were the second season of “Ginny & Georgia,” the South Korean thriller “The Glory,” and the first season of “Wednesday,” all surpassing half a billion hours viewed.
Netflix’s decision to disclose viewership data is considered a response to long-standing criticisms of streaming services for being discreet about their numbers.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Netflix was once tagged a “black box” by some artists for its lack of forthrightness.
Although Netflix has generally been more transparent than its competitors, the Times reports, the issue of data visibility became a focal point during the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
During a call with reporters, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos denied that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which resulted in union contracts that both have data transparency clauses, was the prime motive for the report.
The main reason behind the release, Netflix said, was to “give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences, and what resonates with them.”
Netflix began releasing top 10 lists in 2020, initially without viewership numbers, and the recent move aims to enhance transparency and foster a better environment for industry stakeholders.
The recently released report covers the first half of 2023, indicating that 55% of all Netflix viewing during this period was dedicated to the streamer’s original content, with the remaining 45% from licensed titles like “Suits.”
The report contains data from Netflix’s extensive library, covering 18,000 titles and nearly 100 billion hours of combined viewing time. The list represented 99% of Netflix’s titles, but any show or movie that wasn’t watched for at least 50,000 hours was left off.
Because movies are only a couple hours long, but a series may have dozens of hour-long episodes, some criticized the rankings as a show of popularity.
According to Variety, the Netflix report is “heavy with TV series because, as the company noted, the amount of hours in a TV program are much greater than that of a standalone feature.”
Sarandos acknowledged the evolving approach, stating, “The unintended consequence of not having more transparent data about our engagement was it created an atmosphere of mistrust over time with producers and creators and the press about what was happening on Netflix. So we’ve been on this continuum of opening things up.”
Moving forward, the engagement report is expected to be issued semi-annually.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
