Business

Variety and Luminate have teamed on a data venture designed to bring transparency to viewership levels and rankings for original streaming TV shows and movies. The partnership will include the March 24th launch of two weekly top 10 charts, one covering original TV programs and the other, films produced for streaming platforms.

The data will be fueled by Luminate’s new Streaming Viewership (M) product that tracks viewing across a 2.5 million smart TV panel, along with proprietary and public title engagement signals. The TV and film charts will be published weekly on Variety.com and data from Luminate will be incorporated into other Variety platforms as well as Variety’s reporting on TV ratings and audience measurement.

“We anticipate that the Variety Original Streaming Charts will be a game-changer for the entertainment industry and are pleased that Luminate recognizes Variety as the home for this data,” said Dea Lawrence, Variety Chief Operating and Marketing Officer. “There is a tremendous need for transparency around streaming viewership and we are excited to offer our audience, the largest audience of any entertainment business news site, this service.”

For the first time, original streaming charts data will be available without a premium subscription, providing industry professionals readily available insights. While other media sources can cite Luminate’s streaming viewership data, only Variety will have the right to publish charts using this data. Each week Variety’s esteemed editorial team will provide insights and analysis to accompany the charts.

“Data transparency surrounding SVOD viewership remains a pressing issue within the entertainment industry. After two years of development, we are eager to provide this valuable information to all relevant parties with our new Streaming Viewership product, and we are grateful to Variety for being our official partner in delivering that data to the public each week,” said Mark Hoebich, EVP/Head of Film & TV, Luminate. “Having already proven our reliability with our more than 30 years working with Billboard to fuel their iconic music charts, we’re confident that the information we are sharing in these new charts will help unify the industry for a singular reference point surrounding streaming viewership.”

With the partnership, Luminate will serve as Variety.com’s primary streaming viewership data source for original content measuring total minutes watched across the leading U.S. streaming platforms, including AMC+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Discovery+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, and Peacock. The information comes from Luminate’s new Streaming Viewership (M) product, which deploys more than two years of data science modeling combined with public and private data sources, and proprietary entertainment metadata for contextual reference.

The product, now operating in Beta, will launch in the general market later this year. Learn more and inquire about accessing a demo of the product here.