Netflix changes the rules of the game.
Which game is perhaps the main question? Beyond the way streaming services work and the hallmarks that each one has (being the amount of content and the one that continues to release full seasons the main ones for Netflix), the other rule of the game is in the metrics.
Television and radio have the famous rating and have companies outside the television stations or stations that make the measurements, giving the process credibility to a greater extent. They are not judge and party. Not so for streaming services. There is no external entity that makes the medicines, that shares them publicly and that allows for comparisons. The data that is available is the data provided by the services themselves and is usually limited to the number of subscribers and their most successful titles. There is also no exact periodicity. It is not the rating that is measured day by day, hour by hour, and even minute by minute.
This management of metrics is possible for streaming services because there is no advertising… at least not yet. Television and radio require it just to know what the best times are and, of course, that time has a higher cost. In addition, of course, it is known (and streaming services know it with even more precision), who watches, when, how much and other details. The fact that the data is also kept “discreet” or private has been convenient for streaming services and is part of the problem that is being addressed in the writers’ strike and soon in the actors’ strike. If it is not declared how many views or reproductions there are of movies and series, how are the royalties determined?
Netflix has now indicated that it will report the average views as such and that it is obtained from the hours watched divided by the duration of the product. The hours viewed metric that was the previous measurement will be retained, but now the Top 10 ranking will be based on this measurement. Additionally, it has also expanded the measurement period from 28 days to 91 days in an effort to give products a period to grow.
How it measures Netflix and other streaming services comes largely from television and the box office. The product is successful according to the rating of the last day for the first. For the cinema, the first weekend is essential and from there, the usual thing is that it decreases by an average of 60% each week, how does it happen in streaming? It is uncertain. Yes, there are sleeper hits or titles that decrease little and become hits like “El exótico Marigold Hotel”.
The information that streaming services provide is a lot and it is about their subscribers and about the consumption of their products. What is seen, when, in which areas, of what genres, for how long, original content, new, from the catalog, acquired, with awards or not, with a specific actor or actress, which one is repeated, which one is paused, more and more details.
A metric that Netflix, for example, does not talk about as much but is essential and uses to make decisions is the completion rate, which refers to how much of the audience does finish a movie or series. It is a much more accurate measure of knowing if a product is liked or not. It is not limited to that they have started it, but that they have consumed it completely. When Netflix decides which series, for example, to conclude, it is an essential metric. If the audience did not finish watching a series, would they return for the following season? For example, the series “Resident Evil” and “First Kill” had 45 and 44 percent each, both were cancelled. For “1899” a series that had a conversation even on social networks was only 32%. This rate also translates or reflects how long a series stays in the Top 10 or at least trending. A series with a higher rate is logically longer, which leads to more conversation for more days and, as a result, seeing that it is there among the most viewed invites more audiences to watch it.
Metrics are gold, it’s no secret. The secret is in what is said and what is shared about them. At the moment for streaming services they are a decision tool and also a perception tool. Showing what is appropriate and hiding what is not. Perception is reality or at least appears to be.