Licensed Shows Dominate Netflix Viewing


Licensed shows from media companies such as WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal make up a sizable majority of viewing on Netflix, according to new Nielsen data.

Still, Netflix originals are beginning to break through, and the company has proven that it can drive viewership to its originals through promotion in its user interface.

Nielsen released the data during a pre-upfront presentation to journalists in New York City.

Nielsen’s SVOD content ratings found that of the top 20 most-watched shows on Netflix, licensed shows comprise the top six and eight of the top 10. In total, eight of the top 20 shows were Netflix originals. Among all viewers, 73% of viewing was of licensed content, with 27% of viewing comprising Netflix originals.

Among the most-watched shows, there was a recurring theme: a sizable back catalog.

“The Office,” with 208 episodes, led the pack, followed by “Friends” with 254 episodes and “Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds,” which had more than 300 episodes.

“Once people start viewing things, they tend to continue,” Nielsen senior vice president of product leadership for media Brian Fuhrer said. “It is not a surprise that shows that have a lot of episodes have a lot of viewing.”

The top Netflix original last year was “Orange Is The New Black,” which placed seventh overall. “Ozark” was the only other Netflix original to crack the top 10.

Interestingly, there was a correlation between the age of the viewer and their consumption of Netflix originals.

“The older you get, the more you watch Netflix originals, the younger you are, you are seeing content on Netflix you think might be a Netflix original,” he added. “One of our colleagues said their child told them: 'I was checking out this new Netflix original called ‘Friends,’ it’s really good.’ That is a phenomenon, where it comes out first, is where consumers perceive it to be originals.”

Still, Netflix seems eager to promote its own programming. Many of the top originals last year had fewer episodes than their licensed counterparts.

“[The Netflix homepage] is a very powerful bully pulpit, every time you turn it on they promote it,” Fuhrer said. “The point is, when you have that much real estate, and you go from one episode to the next, it tends to hold viewers longer.”

Fuhrer also showed some data that Nielsen compiled for WarnerMedia, as it weighed whether to sign a new deal with Netflix for “Friends.”

The data looked at the audiences for friends on Netflix as compared to TV syndication and reruns on TBS, Paramount Network and Nick At Nite?

The findings? There was little overlap between the people watching friends on TV, and those watching on Netflix. There was only about 2% overlap between the reruns on cable and those on Netflix, compared to a 10% overlap between the cable networks.

 
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