Netflix By The Numbers

After holding its viewership data cards close to its chest, Netflix NFLX revealed some interesting numbers regarding some of its content.

Romantic comedies were at the top of the Netflix best list for 2018, the company said in a December press release. The most-watched and rewatched movies included "Roxanne Roxanne," "To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before" and "The Kissing Booth."

For its list of most-loved actors from 2018, Netflix rates these by increases in Instagram followers.

Topping the list was the "New Queer Eye" (all five actors), followed by Lana Condor from "All the Boys I’ve Loved Before" and Joel Courtney from "The Kissing Booth."

The Netflix show "You" enjoyed a huge debut after a very drab showing on the Lifetime Channel. The same can be said for the series "Sex Education," and the feature movie "The Bird Box" is on pace to acquire 80 million household viewers.

Nielsen measures limited viewer numbers for the streaming service. These numbers reflect TV viewing in the U.S. only and do not include other devices or other countries.

Why It's Important

The streaming service has been secretive about its viewing data up until recently, and these few insights do not qualify as a deep dive behind the curtain of the streaming giant.

In 2017, Netflix members watched more than 140 million hours per day, and TechCrunch suggested the reported number of hours viewed may have decreased in 2018 relative to previous years.

At the end of 2015, Netflix announced that its 74.7 million users had watched 42.5 billion hours of content. Those numbers translated into 570 million hours per year per account compared to 480 million hours per account this year.

Netflix has more than 100 million users now and included only its original content in the counting this year — which may explain the drop in numbers.

What’s Next

The series "House of Cards" was just the beginning: now "Stranger Things" and other popular Netflix series have become water cooler banter. 

In order to continue growing for its investors, Netflix is counting on non-subscribers joining the masses. 

At the recent INTV Conference, Cindy Holland, Netflix’s VP for original content, revealed that the average subscriber watches two hours of Netflix every day, according to Variety. 

When asked to comment on competition from Apple Inc. AAPL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Walt Disney Co DIS, Holland said the challenge for any newcomer is to grow in the future.

"We're very different from the large tech companies like Google and Facebook," Variety quoted Holland as saying. "We have a different business model [and we're] much closer to cable TV." 

Holland said Netflix is focused on increasing its international output, citing "Narcos" as a global success. Netflix is established in 190 countries and now makes more than 80 percent of its acquisitions outside the U.S.

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