Hacker News Reader

The metrics they really care about are growth and retention. Viewership is only an imperfect proxy for those. Conceivably millions of people turn on a highly hyped program but end up hating it, don't recommend it, and cancel their subs. So it really does matter if people aren't happy with the content they consume.

> The only metric that matters and one streamers keep tight lipped about, is how many people viewed the show.

I believe the new WGA contract is forcing them to release numbers now. NFLX just did a big dump a few weeks ago.

Does it increase the counter when you start streaming or when you finish the episode? That's the real question.

(obviously they have more complex reporting than $viewer++)

The Netflix numbers were based on hours viewed per season globally. It was not broken out per episode or anything more granular. Would be curious to know exactly how they count everything and make sure that views don't get lost.