By Travis Johnson
New York TV Intelligence outfit, 7 Park Data, have released the findings of their study into the viewing habits of Netflix’s global audience in June, and it is not pretty. A quick look at the top 20 most viewed TV series and movies reveals some damning data; namely, people really like watching utter tripe.
Ah, maybe that’s a bit harsh. After all, Orange is the New Black came in at number one, and that’s a good show, right? But is Pretty Little Liars? Is Bones? Is, let’s be honest here, Friends? And maybe you can point to Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac duology rating so high as an indicator of some viewer discernment, but is that the content or the title that’s drawing those clicks? And let us not forget, the number one film for the month is Adam Sandler’s The Do-Over, and The Ridiculous 6 is still sitting comfortably at number eight.
Stepping away from hyperbole, the real takeaway here is that people really like their meat ‘n’ potatoes, low-investment dramas, with Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy, Prison Break, and House MD all placing well in the TV ranks. Meanwhile, over in movie land, the high positions of Minions, Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie and Lilo & Stitch seem to indicate that parents are still using the box as a babysitter, especially when you consider the presence of three out of four Jurassic Park movies on the list.
However, clearly what needs to happen is for all of us to commit to leaving Cosmos or the David Attenborough doco series of your choice on overnight for the next few months to balance the books. Who’s with us?
That might be what we’re watching but it doesn’t mean we liked what we watched!
Global. Half that stuff ain’t on Aus Netflix! Don’t you go dissing the Aussie audience without hard data ;)
It’d be interesting to see what the Aus only viewing stats are, I kinda suspect pretty damning as well.