Netflix to Share Viewership Metrics Less Frequently

Netflix Inc. announced on July 16, 2026, that it will significantly reduce the frequency of its "What We Watched" viewership reports, moving from a biannual publication to once a year during the first quarter. This decision, revealed alongside the company's second-quarter earnings, aims to "keep the focus on our primary financial metrics—revenue and operating profit," according to a company statement. Despite this shift in transparency, Netflix reported $12.56 billion in revenue for the second quarter, a 13% increase year-over-year, driven by ad revenue, membership growth, and pricing adjustments. The company's earnings per share reached 80 cents, slightly exceeding Wall Street's estimate of 79 cents, though revenue narrowly missed the predicted $12.59 billion.

Netflix's CFO Spencer Neumann indicated that recent price hikes, which saw the standard ad-supported plan increase to $8.99 per month in late March, are "going well." The company also revised its revenue forecast for 2026, narrowing the range from between $50.7 billion and $51.7 billion to $51 billion and $51.4 billion. The "What We Watched" report, which provides title-by-title and total view hours data, had previously been released twice a year, with the latest edition coinciding with the second-quarter financial report. The company stated that while it will continue to report this data, the "goal of separating the publication of the report from our earnings results is to keep the focus on our primary financial metrics."

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters elaborated on the decision during the post-earnings call, explaining that "there is not a linear relationship between view hours and revenue and profit because all hours are not created equal." This suggests that the value derived from different viewing hours varies, influencing the company's strategic emphasis on financial performance over granular viewership metrics. The announcement comes as Netflix shares experienced a more than 11% decline in premarket trading following the earnings release, indicating investor concern over the reduced transparency and a slightly missed revenue target.