Netflix Enhances Viewership Data Transparency

Netflix has released a new report with viewership data that covers more than 18,000 titles—representing 99 percent of all viewing on the platform—and says it will continue to do so twice a year.

The report of what people watched on Netflix over a six-month period includes hours viewed for every title (original and licensed) watched for over 50,000 hours, the premiere date for the Netflix TV series or film and whether the title was available globally.

The first What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report shows 100 billion hours viewed. The list rounds up viewing hours to the nearest 100,000, and series are broken down by season.

The Night Agent season one garnered 812.1 million viewing hours, followed by Ginny & Georgia season two with 665.1 million. The Glory season one saw 622.8 million hours viewed, Wednesday season one 507.7 million and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story 503 million.

The rest of the top 10, consecutively, features You season four (440.6 million), La Reina del Sur season three (429.6 million), Outer Banks season three (402.5 million), Ginny & Georgia season one (302.1 million) and FUBAR season one (266.2 million).

Netflix says it’s important to remember that success on the platform “comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not determined by hours viewed alone. We have enormously successful movies and TV shows with both lower and higher hours viewed. It’s all about whether a movie or TV show thrilled its audience—and the size of that audience relative to the economics of the title.” It also suggests that to compare between titles, it’s best to use weekly top 10 and most popular lists, which take into account run times and premiere dates.

“This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry,” the company said. “We believe the viewing information in this report—combined with our weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists—will give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences and what resonates with them.”