Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is asking other streaming competitors to release their viewership numbers.
At a Fast Company conference in Manhattan Wednesday, Sarandos spoke to some of the pushback from writers and actors during the strikes, including the fact that they did not have access to viewership numbers for their show. Netflix is scheduled to release viewership numbers for its top shows Thursday, as part of its biannual data dump.
“That is kind of an answer to the folks, who were saying ‘Hey I don’t don’t really get to see how my stuff does.’ And I agree that was unfair,” Sarandos said. “So, this idea is that the number is out there so that talent can see it, so that agents can see it, so that the press can see it and know what’s a hit and what’s a miss.”
He added: “I don’t think we could be any more transparent than this.”
Pushed on the fact that despite that statement, Netflix will no longer release subscriber numbers starting in 2025, Sarandos said the metric no longer made sense because Netflix now offers multiple tiers with different price points, so the subscriber numbers are no longer as direct of a correlation to revenue and profit numbers. Netflix, which has 280 million subscribers, will still continue to offer subscriber numbers around certain milestones.
In the streaming report, to be released Thursday, Sarandos said the company saw 94 billion hours of Netflix watching in the first half of the year, which is up from prior reports, saying that “engagement probably is the core metric.” Even so, Sarandos said he believes Netflix can double in size, thanks to the introduction of more live events and the introduction of live sports with the Christmas Day NFL football games.
He noted that while Netflix is in 280 million households around the world, if that number were doubled it would still be lower than numbers for paid television in its heyday, and that Netflix has a better product and model than that.
As for YouTube, one of the company’s main competitors for screen time, Sarandos said the two companies have similar revenue, engagement and profit numbers, but that YouTube is more advanced in its advertising capabilities and has mostly user generated content, which also means fewer financial obligations and regulations. The two companies capture 20 percent of screen time, he said, but Sarandos said is he’s concentrated on tapping into the other 80 percent.
Asked if he feels a responsibility to the broader community who have pushed back on Netflix’s model of paying creatives and talent, Sarandos said Netflix and the community are “mutually dependent.” He added that the believes there’s a “romanticism” involved in clinging to the old movie model, but that he believes the new model is better, because more of the risk is shifted to Netflix, in that the streaming platform pays for the production of the film, for the talent and the pre-negotiates their salaries as if the film or show will perform well.
“My goal is that they all get rich and famous. We’re trying to provide them the opportunity for that to happen, and if they do their job really, really well, they will,” he said.