Netflix audience data goes public as it signs up to Barb ahead of ad tier launch

Netflix is making its audience data publicly available for the first time as it prepares to open its ecosystem to advertising subscription tiers in the new year.

The streaming giant has signed up with cross-industry-owned audience currency Barb, which said, according to data for September 2022, that Netflix had an 8.2% share of total viewing, outperforming rivals Amazon Prime Video (3.6%), Disney+ (3%) and other services (0.3%).

The streaming market leader said in July during a second quarter earnings call, that its ad model would be introduced in "early 2023". It further outlined plans to bolster revenue growth and explained why it chose Microsoft as its partner.

Netflix reported a loss of 970,000 subscribers and a revenue slowdown from 19% growth in Q2 2001 to 9% in Q2 2022, to $7.9bn. It said it would be forging strong relationships with advertisers and cracking down on log-in sharing to counter its decline.

News of Netflix signing up comes less than a year after Barb introduced an upgrade for its daily audience monitoring – in November 2021 it added streaming services, reporting aggregate-level viewing to SVOD and AVOD video sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services.

From the second week of November this year, Barb will publicly report the monthly reach and share of viewing of broadcaster groups and AVOD/SVOD services that have more than a 0.5% share of total identified viewing.

In addition, Barb will extend its weekly reporting of the top 50 shows to include those across both linear and SVOD, enabling advertisers data on the most-watched shows in the UK.

Barb's streaming audience data is powered by technology developed by WPP research group Kantar.

Barb noted that while streaming services are increasingly dominant in the viewing habits of the UK, broadcasters still account for the "lion's share" of viewing. During 2022, broadcaster linear TV and on-demand accounted for around two-thirds of "all identified viewing".

Reed Hastings, co-chief executive of Netflix, said: "Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. We've kept in touch with Barb since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK."

Justin Sampson, chief executive of Barb, added: "Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows.

"We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services. Netflix's commitment to Barb sends a clear signal that what we're doing is valuable to new and established players in the market."

Earlier this year, industry figures reacted to an Ofcom report with the sentiment that TV has been "buoyed by rise of BVOD, Netflix ads and older viewers' loyalty".

The month before, Netflix EMEA announced the departure of Danielle Crook-Davies, vice-president for marketing EMEA.

Netflix announced its ad plans in April.