Why doesn’t Netflix clearly reveal its audiences? The boss explains

“It was part of our promise to creators.”

Streaming television is not linear television. No panel, no mediametry or equivalent. And the only audiences that are known are those of the top ones that Netflix willing to disclose.

A strategy defended by the co-CEO of NetflixTed Sarandos, who explained yesterday, during his quarterly speech to shareholders (via Variety), that the group made this choice to “protect creative people“who often feel”trapped” by box office results or TV audiences.

“That was part of our promise to creators. When we started creating original programming, our creators felt trapped in a world where overnight ratings were king. This world of weekend box office end that defines their success and failures. And as we all know, a series can become hugely successful later, even if it didn’t have it at the time of its launch. So our strategy was partly about the relationship with talent, not just the business aspects. But over time, people are much more interested in it. And so we are today on the continuum: how much data do we publish? I think we have led the charge by launching the concept of a Top 10, by publishing our Top 10 list. This allows for a lot of transparency. And I expect it to be more and more transparent.”

Implied, the hearings of Netflix will be more and more transparent, because Ted Sarandos admits that the streaming model is no longer that far removed from classic TV. “When we started 15 years ago, we thought there was no comparison. That putting audiences on streaming was confusing things. Today we’ve gotten to a point where it’s mostly about engagement. We’re trying to capture the value of viewing and it will become much more transparent over time, in the same way that television has always had audiences, music has always had charts, and movie theaters have always had a box office.”