TV exec research presentations tend to be a little dry, but NBC Universal's Alan Wurtzel bucked that trend on Wednesday — outing the viewership of several Netflix series to the delight of many reporters.
Data gathered from a sample of 15,000 users, by San Francisco tech firm Symphony, paints "Jessica Jones" as an especially strong player for the streamer. Based on audio recognition data, covering the months of September, October, November and December, a slide showed that an average 4.8 million viewers in the adults 18-49 group watched an episode of the Marvel drama. (The demographic, it should be noted, likely doesn't matter very much to Netflix on account of the absence of advertising.)
Following "Jessica Jones" was 'Master of None' (3.9 million adults 18-49) and "Narcos" (3.2 million adults 18-49). And in "Narcos'" defense, the sample mentioned missed the first few days of the show's release. Speaking of outside the premiere window, Wurtzel also cited that "Orange Is the New Black," which premiered back in June, was still averaging 644,000 adults 18-49 two months after its third season kicked off.
"It's a very different business model," Wurtzel said of Netflix. "Their business model is to make you write a check next month. So not every program on Netflix is a broad appeal program.... I don't believe there's enough stuff on Netflix that is broad enough and is consistent enough to effect us in a meaningful way on a regular basis."
Netflix was not the only streamer to see its numbers dished. Wurtzel also cited 2.1 million adults 18-49 watching Amazon's "Man in the High Castle" in the months around its premiere. After the presentation, Wurtzel expressed confidence in the numbers — even though they were based off of such a small sample.
"This is in beta," he said. "I think they're valid. They give you a sense of what the size is — whether it's 4.4 million or 4.2 million, I don't think [it] matters."
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