In a shock, Netflix dropped its ‘Full Swing’ viewership knowledge.
Getty Photographs/Daniel Boczarski
Effectively, would ya take a look at that? Christmas got here early.
On Tuesday morning, Netflix launched viewership knowledge for the primary time ever, offering a uncommon glimpse into the back-end knowledge that powers the world’s largest streaming big. The information drop, titled “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report,” gives a glance into some 18,000 titles that appeared on Netflix worldwide between January and June of this yr — a bunch that features, apparently, the hit golf docuseries “Full Swing.”
In line with the report, “Full Swing” season 1 was watched for some 53.1 million hours between its launch in February and the tip of June — a complete that made it the 267th most-watched title on Netflix in that very same interval.
Now, these numbers may sound low, however they fall someplace on the plus-side of expectations for the present, watched by roughly half the viewers of the brand new season of the extra well-liked sister present “Drive to Survive,” (53.1 to 90.5 million) however almost double the primary season of the tennis docuseries “Break Point,” (30.5 million) which debuted at roughly the identical time as its golf counterpart and was seen as a pure operating mate. All three reveals had been picked up by Netflix for an additional season in 2023, and every carried out nicely relative to different well-touted docuseries on the platform throughout the identical time.
These numbers come as welcome information to golf’s stakeholders, none of whom had entry to Netflix’s streaming knowledge till across the time of this week’s launch. In line with these the Sizzling Mic spoke to throughout the trade, Netflix expressed pleasure in regards to the collection within the weeks following the present’s launch, however didn’t share any detailed viewership knowledge with the PGA Tour and others. The present, an eight-episode documentary-style collection that captured the turbulent 2022 season in skilled golf, arrived to a lot fanfare within the weeks following its debut, however its business success was a thriller till it was picked up for a second season by Netflix the next month.
In fact, there have been different methods of measuring the present’s success. Viewership apart, Netflix’s 230+ million worldwide subscribers proved ample viewers incentive for golf’s stakeholders to leap aboard, even when exact viewership knowledge remained a thriller. And, because the PGA Tour and others touted, “Full Swing” appeared on varied worldwide Netflix “Prime 10” lists and its topics witnessed meteoric rises in social media followings and sponsor pursuits. These achievements had been value noting, however they pale compared to the form of balls-and-strikes reporting Netflix launched on Tuesday.
As for what the reporting means to these in golf, the information is generally good. The hope upon the debut of “Full Swing” was that the present would assist to propel a brand new viewers of followers in direction of golf, and that thesis is basically proved true by viewership knowledge. If each viewers member watched “Full Swing” in its entirety and solely as soon as — a statistical impossibility, however value utilizing for the sake of demonstration — the present would have reached some 6.63 million viewers in simply the primary 4 months of its existence. That may simply make it one of many most-watched pre-produced golf reveals ever. For context, solely the Masters and its 12.1 million viewers averages the next complete than that quantity. In fact, that’s only a hypothetical — the true variety of complete viewers is probably going a lot larger, the retention is probably going a lot decrease, and “averages” and “complete audiences” are apples and oranges — however these broad-strokes numbers assist to proof why Netflix appeals to golf.
And within the case of golf’s enchantment to Netflix? Effectively, that’s one other factor fully. The streaming big was cautious to state in its launch on Tuesday that viewership knowledge isn’t a definitive predictor of success.
“Success on Netflix is available in all styles and sizes, and isn’t decided by hours considered alone,” Netflix stated. “We now have enormously profitable motion pictures and TV reveals with each decrease and better hours considered. It’s all about whether or not a film or TV present thrilled its viewers — and the scale of that viewers relative to the economics of the title.”
True as which may be, it’s arduous to see how Netflix can be something aside from thrilled with the efficiency of “Full Swing” in solely its first season. Fifty million hours consumed in lower than 5 full months — a quantity comparable with reveals like “Fits” (season 5) and “Higher Name Saul” (season 1) — represents an amazing viewers dimension, whereas knowledge exhibiting the recognition progress of those that participated within the present speaks to the depth of engagement. For these nervous that “Full Swing” could not final, no less than the primary knowledge appears to point out audiences are nonetheless prepared — and hungry — to tune in.
In brief, it’s an excellent week to be a part of the forged and crew for “Full Swing” season 2. The present is in its closing edits now, and is anticipated to debut to audiences in all places — and evidently, massive audiences — early subsequent yr.
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