Netflix has shed light on the viewing hours of its customers for the first time.
The streaming giant today released a new report into audiences’ viewing hours across more than 18000 original and licensed titles – representing 99% of its catalogue – from January to June 2023.
The report, We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report, measures the shows’ premiere dates, global availability, release date and the hours viewed. Only titles with more than 50,000 hours viewed were included, however.
It will be released bi-annually beginning today, Netflix said on its website.
It follows criticism over Netflix's lack of transparency around its streaming metrics.
According to their findings, the most popular show among Netflix users for the first half of this year was action thriller The Night Agent season 1 with 812 million hours viewed.
It was followed by season 2 of comedy drama series Ginny & Georgia with 665.1 hours viewed.
Korean revenge thriller The Glory was close at its heels with 662.8 million hours viewed.
It was followed by Wednesday season 1 with 507.7 hours viewed.
Rounding out the top five shows was Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story with 503 million hours viewed.
Netflix said over 60% of the titles released in the first half of this year appeared in their weekly Top 10 lists "so while this report is broader in scope, the trends reflected in it are very similar to those in the Top 10 lists".
While the data provides valuable insight into the popularity of certain shows with their users, the streaming giant said success on the service "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 said.
"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.
"This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry. 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."
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