Netflix Won't Even Tell Stars How Many Views Their Shows Get

Netflix might be one of the premier players in the streaming landscape, but when it comes to viewership specifics, they're very tight-lipped. During a recent appearance on Conan O'Brien's podcast, comedian Ali Wong (Always Be My Maybe), revealed that not even she knows the exact viewership of her two Netflix comedy specials, Cobra Baby and Hard Knock Wife. The topic came up during a discussion of Wong's decision to work while pregnant, and whether or not it had an impact on her career.

"They're so secretive about their metrics," the comic said. "To this day, I still don't know how many people watched either of those specials. It was so confusing at first. When Baby Cobra came out in 2016, there were a lot of pieces written about it, specifically the fact that I talked about my miscarriages...but there was no way for me to know how well it did."

This isn't the first time that Netflix's byzantine approach to their viewership statistics has attracted attention. Back in January, the streaming company revealed that if a user watches a piece of content for a scant two minutes, it counts as a view. At the same time, the company did reveal some viewership projections for some of its biggest shows, as well as giving users the ability to disable autoplaying video ads.