"The Witcher" breaks records on Netflix, but...

Luca Fontana

23.1.2020

Translation: machine translated

Never before has a Netflix series been viewed as much in the first four weeks as "The Witcher", according to official figures from the streaming company, whose measurement method has changed.

Netflix, the California-based streaming company, has released its results for the fourth quarter of 2019 and has a hit to celebrate: "The Witcher" is the most successful series of all time, with none having been watched as much in the first four weeks after its release, and this despite negative, which I myself share after forming my first impressions: "the series is top, but nevertheless has a few weak points."

Netflix should be oblivious to this, with many fans of the game and the book disagreeing with the critics and being enthusiastic, thus confirming the streaming giant's stats: 76 million households have embraced the new series starring Henry Cavill in the title role, an audience record. With that, "The Witcher" dethroned the third season of "Stranger Things" with its 64 million views Elsewhere, Netflix announced that an animated adaptation of "The Witcher" starring Henry Cavill is in production: "The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf".

However, this record must be put into perspective: in fact, Netflix has changed the method used to measure views.

New method closer to YouTube's

Previously, if a user viewed at least 70% of a title - an episode of a series or a film - then Netflix considered it to be "watched".

Now things are different: if at least two minutes of a piece of content have been viewed, it is then considered "watched". Netflix justifies the new accounting method on the grounds that watching two minutes is enough to say with certainty that viewers intentionally chose to watch the content. As a result, Netflix now interprets the term "viewing" much more in the sense of YouTube "views" than conventional TV channel "audiences".

According to Netflix's latest quarterly report, this equality is particularly important for interactive content such as "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch", which has no fixed length.

Viewer numbers: a question of marketing alone?

Maybe. But this tilt should get people talking: if a viewer stops the series after just one episode because they don't like it, Netflix's new measurement method treats them in the same way as a viewer who has watched the entire season of a series. These new figures would have no real informative content and would only be likely to be used for marketing purposes.

In fact, Netflix admits in its fourth-quarter report that the figures obtained using the new accounting method are around 35% higher than those that would have been obtained using the old method. In other words, using the old method, 'The Witcher', with an estimated 56.3million, would be the second most successful series behind the third season of "Stranger Things".

What do you think? Are you in favour of this change? Or are you one of those people who just want to know when the second season is coming out?

Are you in favour?

Ah yes: click here!

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more