Two decades ago, Nielsen overnight ratings were king, providing a comprehensive and succinct look at the biggest moments on TV, which, at the time, only existed on linear networks. Now, with streaming making viewing more fragmented than ever, linear ratings just don’t have the same weight as they used to. Nielsen and Netflix have embraced weekly top 10 streaming charts along with a bi-annual Netflix data dump to give a fuller picture of the streaming landscape, while other streamers mostly keep their numbers to themselves.
Faced with that complicated, choose-your-own-yardstick environment, this weekly column will try to make sense of the dizzying array of viewing metrics and offer context on what can be considered a “ratings win” today.