SVOD data website launched

The site will use a free membership model, with users able to access analysis, join forums and receive weekly newsletters about SVOD research.

Follows has established the project in response to a ‘scarcity of data’ available from VOD companies, according to a press release.

To launch the site, which has been in development for three years, he acquired historical anonymised data on user activity on Netflix between January 2016 and June 2019. The company that provided the clickstream data has not been disclosed.

A team of astrophysicists and data scientists have been appointed to analyse the data, led by theoretical physicist José Eliel Camargo-Molina.

Follows said: "We believe that filmmakers, creators and producers have a right to know how audiences are responding to VOD content. In the short-term, we hope this project provides some valuable insight and in the long-term, we hope it spurs the platforms to share more data."

The dataset covers only desktop and laptop users who have opted in, and only for the fixed time period. Follows added: "Even with this imperfect lens, we’re able to carefully extrapolate the data and it allows us to look deeper than ever before."