Netflix signs up with UK TV ratings agency BARB to reveal streaming viewership numbers

After years of being tight-lipped on viewership numbers, Netflix teamed up with British TV ratings agency Broadcasters Audience Research Board or BARB, an organization in the U.K. that reports broadcast and streaming numbers. Starting in November, the organization will measure Netflix’s daily streaming numbers as well as report on its monthly reach and share of total identified viewing.

Last year, BARB introduced streaming numbers to its reporting in the U.K. Disney+ is already signed up. According to the announcement, “BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined.”

Netflix going public with viewing data is significant and points to how much confidence the streamer has regarding the quality of its content. While Netflix has its Top 10 rankings, the company has been criticized for not publicly publishing viewership metrics for all its shows, especially ones that may not be doing well.

BARB will finally reveal to the public just how many shows are actually being watched and which titles are total flops — at least in the U.K.

Reed Hastings, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a statement, “Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. We’ve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.”

In other news, viewers will finally get to watch a Netflix movie in AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters — another historic announcement for the streaming giant.