Not only are Nielsen ratings ineffective in today’s TV-watching environment, they’re also bad for creativity, according to Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos.

Speaking at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York on Monday, Sarandos addressed the recent announcement that Nielsen would begin tracking SVOD viewing. For years, Netflix has been criticized for not providing viewing numbers for their series, but he says that daily reported ratings, like those from Nielsen, “work against quality television.”

“Look how many shows didn’t get past the first three episodes,” said Sarandos. “Not because they were a bad show… but because it was in the wrong slot at the wrong time.”

Netflix does not rely on advertisers like a traditional television network, so daily ratings report don’t apply to Netflix’s business practice in the same way. Calling Nielsen-type ratings an “irrelevant measure of success,” Sarandos says that the reliance on Nielsen ratings to decide on a show’s success or failure within the first few episodes is an inherent mistake in the TV world and results in cutting out promising stories too quickly. (He notes that broadcast comedy hit Seinfeld didn’t really pick up speed until its fourth season).

He also stands by Netflix’s creative strategy, which he says gives showrunners and writers more freedom than broadcasters. Sarandos says that’s one way they’re able to lure top talent to the platform.

Sarandos spoke to the company’s international expansion, as well, saying that by 2020, he wants to be in almost every country in the world, and expects to have 20 original series premiering each year.

Read more at Variety.

Brief Take: Netflix isn’t the only one questioning Nielsen’s effectiveness in today’s TV environment. When the ratings company admitted to a glitch that resulted in inaccurate numbers for the fall season, broadcasters and cable nets alike (even Nielsen itself) joined in the fight for a more reliable measurement system.

[Image courtesy of Netflix]

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