‘We know what the numbers are’: Amazon Studios chief says that it won’t follow Netflix in sharing viewership data

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• Amazon head of studios Jennifer Salke said that unlike Netflix, the company doesn’t plan to offer viewership data to creators.
• She made the remark during a talk at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour in L.A on Saturday, adding that Amazon Prime Video is interested in different content than Netflix.
• The creator behind the platform’s popular show "Fleabag" has said that it wants to end the show, but Salke said Amazon would be interested in another season.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Even as streaming services like Netflix start to slowly report some viewership data, Amazon’s head of Studios says the company will not offer viewership data on how many people watch original content on its platform.

During a talk at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour in L.A. on Saturday, Jennifer Salke explained that Amazon Prime Video will not report viewership data. Before joining Amazon last year, Salke worked at NBC and acknowledged that networks use ratings as a selling point for advertisers and creators, reports The Wrap.

"Our company doesn’t embrace that strategy," she said at the event. "We agree that it’s not a strategy for us. We know what the numbers are."

Albert Cheng, Amazon’s co-head of TV, added that while Amazon doesn’t share absolute numbers with creators, it does talk about performance after a show airs.

Read more: Amazon’s head of TV and movie marketing details the studio’s turnaround effort under Jennifer Salke and its push to become more than a ‘supermarket of content’

Amazon says that its business is different from Netflix

Salke described Amazon Prime Video as a perk for Prime subscribers that either pay $119 a year or $12.99 a month to receive deals and free delivery from shopping on the e-commerce giant’s platform. She added that Amazon Prime Video doesn’t compete with Netflix in terms of the number of projects it works on. Netflix is estimated to spend $15 billion on original content this year while Amazon will spend half as much.

Amazon Prime Video says that it has access to 100 million Prime subscribers in more than 200 areas globally.

"We have a very unique business in the sense that our entire north star is to entertain and delight Prime customers all over the world, so there’s a different strategy there," reports The Hollywood Reporter at the TCA event. "We will curate shows to bring to that global, diverse audience. We’re not in the volume business. We’re in the curated business." 

Salke also talked about Amazon Prime Video’s success with "Fleabag," which received 11 Emmy nominations for its second season earlier this month. Creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has said that she wants to end the series, but Salke suggested that Amazon would be interested in another season.

"Anything Phoebe wants to do, we are signed up to do," she said. "Nothing would make us happier than to have her bring another season of that show or anything else she wants to do."

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See Also:

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• New York State is reportedly filing lawsuits to stop Netflix from paying fake heiress Anna Delvey more than $100,000 for her story

Source: Business Insider – ljohnson@businessinsider.com (Lauren Johnson)