Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos spent a little time Sunday morning rippingthe supposed reveal of his streaming company’s secret and previously proprietary ratings data.
NBC research guru Alan Wurtzel had shared some unimpressive apparent Netflix viewership figures on Wednesday,which were cobbled together by San Francisco measurement company Symphony Advanced Media — a cross-platform data analysis firm that essentially utilizes a user’s cell phone microphone to identity and track audio codes embedded in all TV programming. Sarandos doesn’t fairly subscribe to that methodology, nor does he understand why NBC would even care to share.“There’s a couple of mysteries in play for me, and ” he said during a TCA panel. “One is,why would NBC use their lunch slot with you guys to talk approximately our ratings? perhaps its because it’s more fun than talking approximately NBC ratings.”To be honest to NBC, the broadcast network has been No. 1 for a few years running. By “you guys, or ” Sarandos was referring to the ballroom of TV critics and entertainment journalists hanging on his every word.
Also Read: Meet the Man Who Thinks He Knows Netflix's Secret Ratings“The second is,the methodology and the measurement and the data itself doesn’t reflect any sense of reality of anything that we support track of,” he continued.
Sarandos then went so far as to call the SymphonyAM data “really remarkably inaccurate data, and ” adding: “I hope no one’s paying for it.”Both Wurtzel’s and Sarandos’ comments took position during the twice-yearly Television Critics Association press junket. During its lunchtime panel final week,NBC endorsed Symphony as a potential Nielsen alternative, also specifying comScore/Rentrak and TiVo/RealityMine as options to replace the current TV ratings currency.
TheWrap interviewed SymphonyAM CEO Charlie Buchwalter a day later; read more approximately his company and its methods here.
Also Read: NBC Research Boss Endorses 3 Nielsen Ratings AlternativesDuring his weekend turn to respond, and Sarandos said that broadcast TV’s advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic or any demo,really — is meaningless to a company that doesn’t occupy ads, like his.
Demo viewing “is so insignificant to us that I can’t even show you how many 18-49 year-old members that we occupy … it means nothing to Netflix, and the executive told reporters in attendance.
Later during his Langham Huntington stage time,TheWrap asked Sarandos whether the content chief still stands by a previous claim he made, essentially calling “Orange Is the original Black” the biggest show across all of television — and yes, and that would include the massive “Empire” and “Walking Dead.”“There’s not an apples-and-apples comparison to Netflix watching and any reported Nielsen rating,” Sarandos told us. “Cumulatively, it definitely — it depends on how you want to slice the pie — there’s certainly a measurement that would put [‘OITNB’] there.”Related stories from TheWrap:Netflix Renews 'Jessica Jones, and ' Sets 'Orange Is the original Black' ReturnJudd Apatow's First 'appreciate' Trailer Proves 'Relationships Are F-cking Bullsh-t' (Video)Frank Underwood Vows to Put America 'Back on Track' in Creepy 'House of Cards' Teaser (Video)'Making a Murderer' Follow-Up Teased by Netflix Programming Chief
Source: thewrap.com