Westminster Asks Streamers to Disclose Audience Stats

The UK government has asked Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services to disclose top-line viewing data for the shows they get from public service broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

As reported on www.deadline.com , ministers have endorsed a March recommendation by Westminster's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMSC), that streaming companies should share summary stats with broadcasters and with the regulator Ofcom. The government stated: 'We agree with the Committee that there is a case for requiring streaming services to share top line viewing data with Ofcom to assist them with their analysis and evaluation of the PSB system', adding that it hopes this can be done 'on a voluntary basis in the first instance'.

Netflix and Amazon argued in their evidence to the DCMSC that such information would be commercially sensitive, but the Committee disagreed, stating 'Streaming services are an important 'second window' for PSB content but without viewer data, it is difficult to fully assess the reach of PSBs'. A further recommendation about streamers displaying original broadcasters' brands / logos on series was left as 'a matter for contractual negotiations in the first instance' - and some commentators online have suggested the audience stats should be just the same.

Viewing figures for streamed shows are a closely guarded secret, although audience ratings firm Nielsen has attempted to generate its own stats, announcing as long ago as 2014 that it would track viewing for Netflix. Three years later Netflix described Nielsen's new 'Subscription Video On Demand' (SVOD) content ratings' as 'not even close' to accurate, because they do not measure viewing on mobile devices, 'though Nielsen said it was confident in the data it had, and added syndicated measurement of Amazon Prime Video to the SVOD solution two years later. Statistics out this month from the ratings giant using a new metric called 'The Gauge' suggest that streaming accounts for only around 26% of all U.S. television viewing time, versus 39% for cable and 25% for broadcast (www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2021/the-gauge-shows-streaming-takes-a-seat-at-the-table and see image) - a figure which has surprised fans of streaming who assumed it had gone further. The figures have not - as far as DRNO is aware - been disputed by the services themselves.