Netflix has kept its viewing figures secret for years: it publishes its weekly streaming charts, of course, but that's about it. That's now changed, and the streamer says it will publish a “comprehensive report” twice a year showing what the most popular movies and shows are for each six-month period.
The first report, entitled What we saw, is available now – and the number one show worldwide may not be what you expect. With more than 812 million viewing hours, this is the first season of the FBI thriller The Night Cop, which we originally thought would not surpass ours Stranger things.
Season two of Ginny & Georgia is number two, The glory season one is third, the first season of Wednesday is at number four and rounds out the top five most viewed titles in the first half of 2023 Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
What can we learn from What We Watched?
Because the data only covers the first half of the year, we can't see how many people watched Squid game: the challenge or Scott Pilgrim leavesboth of which are likely to show big numbers for the second half of 2023.
Most, but not all, of the top 50 were available worldwide throughout the period – but there are some exceptions, including season three of Telemundo's drug crime drama La Reina del Sur (Queen of the South)which delivered 429 million hours, despite the US version of the service not arriving until May 2023, several months after it was available on Netflix in other territories.
It's interesting to see that Netflix didn't just publish the winners. The report lists nearly 20,000 shows and movies, which means it also includes shows that barely hit the 100,000 hour mark.
Netflix doesn't just do this because information is nice. A key part of the negotiations between entertainment companies and the actors' and writers' unions was about better viewer transparency. Although Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos says the strikes were not the main factor in releasing the report, it seems unlikely we would be seeing this data if it weren't for the strike negotiations. By publishing viewing data, Netflix provides important information not only to series makers, but also to its rivals.