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The Writers Guild Association and AMPTP reached an agreement that ended more than 150 days of strike action. One of the provisions of this new contract is the inclusion of performance bonuses for original films and series, and that will be the focus of this article. What 2023 Netflix US shows and movies were you going to get?
You September 26A preliminary agreement was reached between the union and a group of streamers and distributors (including Netflix). A range of agreements were reached, including a salary increase and agreeing on a minimum number of staff in the writer’s room, but most important for this article is new transparency about viewership and viewership. View-based streaming bonus.
How is this performance bonus calculated?
Under the agreement, an original series or movie that manages to garner the equivalent of 20% of the streaming service’s total subscribers (or views as Netflix refers to it) in the first 91 days of release gets the performance. Bonus starting January 1, 2024.
The WGA and AMPTP have agreed on the full viewing bonuses we’ve been using for What’s on Netflix for the past 15 months, and the most challenging aspect of this performance bonus is knowing how many US subscribers Netflix has.
At the end of the last fiscal quarter, Netflix acquired… 75.5 million subscribers In the UCAN region (which includes the United States and Canada), but we don’t know how much it is for the United States alone. The rule of thumb in this case is to say Canada is 10% the size of the United States, and that would leave us with 68 million US Netflix subscribers, give or take. 20% of these are 13.6 million countering violent extremism. This is the goal, the magic number to reach after 91 days. But which shows have managed to achieve this in 2023?
Initial WGA Agreement Language
Which US Netflix shows released in 2023 would have received a performance bonus?
To determine this, we will use Nielsen’s top 10 publicly available numbers, the leading provider of broadcast ratings in the United States. Now, these numbers come with some caveats: Nielsen doesn’t offer a distinction between seasons, which means that for returning shows, the views of all available seasons are counted into one number.
Additionally, in the wording of the contract, it is not clear how the performance bonus applies to returning series. Is it on a seasonal basis or the entire show? The second caveat is that Nielsen only counts viewing on connected TVs so far, and that’s not the only way to watch Netflix, so we’ll need to keep that in mind.
With all this said, here are the 2023 US Netflix series that will receive a performance bonus:
Night agent It’s Netflix’s biggest new series of 2023, and it crossed the threshold two weeks after its release.
Queen Charlotte: The Bridgerton Story He would have had it too, crossing the threshold after three weeks. According to Nielsen numbers, meat And That ’90s show He will finally be among the lucky series.
Foolish And Diplomat Slightly below the minimum according to current numbers, but again, if we take into account viewing occurrence on mobile and PC, I’m pretty sure they’re over that limit as well.
Pain killer Trending above DiplomatSo it’s very likely that he got the reward as well.
Now, there are some series you wouldn’t get: the limited series Florida man, comedy unstable With Rob Lowe, Survive from thicker With Michel Buteau, xo kitty, And Glamorous With Kim Cattrall. We have missed some data for kaleidoscope And Freeridgebut it is safe to say that both of them were unable to obtain the performance bonus.
It’s too early to tell one piece Since debuting on the Nielsen charts, but with 2.9 million CVEs after four days, it’s trending slightly lower Diplomat And Foolish, So the cut may not happen.
In conclusion, out of 14 new Netflix series released between January and August 2023, 7 of them received a performance bonus by my estimate, which is around 50%.
Which US Netflix movies released in 2023 would have received a performance bonus?
When it comes to movies, reaching this threshold seems a bit more difficult, but at least 8 US Netflix films surpassed it in the first 14 days according to Nielsen stats.
I will add an assumption You’re not invited to my coming-of-age party, For which we have incomplete numbers, but it started off great on the Nielsen charts:
For the rest, it is difficult to know due to the lack of data over such a long period. Pale blue eye And They cloned Tyrone Maybe you got it. to Chuba, Happiness for beginners And The dog is gone, it’s in the air. But one thing is certain: The perfect searchthe Mighty Power Rangers private A tourist’s guide to love And choose love I won’t get it.
It appears that Netflix’s 2023 animated films have been excluded and are therefore not eligible for the new bonus. Monkey King, nimona, And The charming elephant It couldn’t crack the Nielsen charts.
In conclusion, of the 22 US films released on Netflix between January and August 2023, 9 were definitely cut, five likely were, and seven were not.
This is your overview of this new performance-based reward, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted starting January 1, 2024, as shows and movies are on track to be included in our weekly Streaming Top 10 reports.
