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Netflix Breaks Silence on Viewing Numbers for 18,000 Titles in Groundbreaking Move

The release, the most extensive of its kind in the streaming world, provides insights into user engagement and marks a departure from Netflix's historical reluctance to share such data. By: Wee Yan Ling

Netflix have publicly shared their detailed breakdown of viewing data for the first half of 2023 which encompasses 18,214 movies and TV series internationally.

The more prominent findings feature The Night Agent as it takes the crown as the top title with an astounding 812.1 million of viewing hours whereas Ginny & Georgia comes in second at 665.1 million hours. Korean drama The Glory has amassed 622.8 million hours and despite the late release of Wednesday in November, it had secured the fourth spot with 507.7 million viewing hours.

Netflix’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos has acknowledged the company’s effort towards being more transparent and cited the early days when revealing data was deemed as counterproductive. He also recognised that the lack of transparency has led to the mistrust in Netflix over the years as a result. For Netflix, they have opted to disclose the total hours viewed instead of the conventional “view” formula which portrays Netflix’s determination to more accurately measure their user engagement.

He also added, “It wasn’t in our interest to be that transparent because we were building a new business, and we didn’t want to give any competitors a roadmap. Creators liked it too, because they were free from the pressure of ratings.”

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