Here is the Most Popular Netflix Original of Summer 2017

| October 19, 2017 | Netflix | No Comments

While Netflix rarely reveals viewership numbers of its own content, there are plenty of companies making an attempt to do so, from Nielsen, to smaller startups, consulting firms and more.

And apparently Parrot Analytics has struck some data gold, now suggesting that they can argue that they have found the most popular Netflix original of the last 90 days. So for Summer 2017, what was it?

Netflix original ‘Ozark’ takes the cake. Indie Wire reported that Parrot Analytics is sticking their flag in the ground and saying “we got it” here, and we fully expect a rebuttal from Netflix at some point, suggesting that they’re wrong. But for now, it does seem to make sense, summer was somewhat slow for new Netflix originals, and ‘Ozark’ got plenty of attention around social media. Critically, it under performed, but around the web, regular viewers seemed excited about the Jason Bateman ‘Breaking Bad’ lite.

Repeatedly, Netflix has come out against various services and agencies saying they can predict Netflix viewership numbers. And on top of that, ratings aren’t necessarily quite as important for Netflix in traditional television sense. Netflix doesn’t need to justify to advertisers that a show is popular or has tons of viewership. Instead, they care about two metrics, what shows bring in new subscribers, and what shows keep their current subscribers happy. Netflix has all the data they need to report on these metrics internally, why should they care whether or not a third party can accurately predict viewership?

It’s also very curious, why would these third party tracking services even be trying to rate Netflix shows? Who are they planning on selling that data to? Competing services, maybe, but that’s not a very large market. Sure, maybe CBS is interested in lining up new shows based around Netflix data, but they likely have their own tracking and game plan for their content.

Regardless, as a consumer, it’s interesting, I just don’t think I’d ever care enough besides just seeing the data.