Netflix, self-proclaimed industry leader in viewership transparency, welcomes the British Invasion

Lack of transparency with viewership numbers is an ongoing complaint in the streaming space, but Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos doesn’t “think we could be any more transparent than” its biannual data dump, which reports number of views and hours watched per season on the platform. In fact, speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Sarandos challenged other streamers to follow suit, saying he is “hoping that the other folks in the business will follow” Netflix’s example (via Deadline). On Thursday, the company backed up Sarandos’ boasting with the release of its “What We Watched” report for the first half of 2024.

The major takeaway from the report is that Netflix is experiencing its own British invasion. The top four series (and five of the top 10 overall) are U.K. productions. Bridgerton (91.9 million views), Baby Reindeer (87.6 million), and The Gentlemen (75.9 million) are all expected hits, but the dark horse contender for the number one spot is the Harlan Coben adaptation Fool Me Once, which, since it premiered on January 1, has racked up a total of 107.5 million views (and 689.5 million hours watched) across its eight episodes. 

Rounding out the top 10 series are Avatar: The Last Airbender (71.1 million views) at number five, Griselda (69.2 million) at number six, American Nightmare (55 million) at number seven, 3 Body Problem (52.4 million) at number eight, Berlin (48.5 million) at number nine, and One Day (39.4 million) at number 10. The Roast Of Tom Brady (22.4 million views) was the most-watched unscripted program, an impressive feat for a single-episode special event. The entire sixth season of Love Is Blind trailed just a few entries below with 20.9 million views. 

On the film side, Sarandos proclaimed that “the biggest movies of the year are these movies that are made for Netflix and only playing on Netflix.” Seven of the top 10 films are indeed Netflix Originals. Millie Bobby Brown’s Damsel earned the top spot with 143.8 million views, followed by Lift, starring Kevin Hart, with 129.4 million views. Society Of The Snow (103.8 million), Under Paris (84.7 million), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (80.3 million), Mother Of The Bride (77.7 million), Atlas (77.1 million), Minions (72.7 million), Irish Wish (72.1 million), and The Boss Baby (63.6 million) round out the top 10. 

With hard data so hard to come by in the streaming era (who knows what’s going on over at Apple TV+), it is interesting to see what numbers Netflix is turning out. But numbers are still susceptible to spin. Sarandos can champion a movie like Damsel as the biggest movie of the year in terms of viewership, but can a movie that people put on idly while scrolling their phones or folding laundry compare to a theatrical release that people leave their houses and pay for individual tickets to see? Both absolutely have their place (before Netflix, broadcast reruns brought a lot of movies into our living rooms), but how do we decide what’s the biggest? Damsel may be the most-viewed movie in the world by hours watched, but how do we weigh that against the effort and investment of people going to the theater to see Inside Out 2 or Deadpool & Wolverine?

Similarly, on the television side, a show like Grey’s Anatomy (a broadcast favorite with lots of episodes) is consistently ranked in Nielsen’s top ten streaming shows. But because Netflix offers viewership per season, the 20 individual seasons of the show are scattered throughout the “What We Watched” report. (Grey’s season one apparently had 3.6 million views, while season 20 only had 100k.) But Netflix’s share of Grey’s viewership only accounts for part of the Nielsen total, because it also streams on Hulu. 

All this to say, the numbers are only ever part of the story. But having numbers from more streamers would definitely make that story more clear, so if Ted Sarandos can goad his competitors into greater transparency, it would certainly be a net win.