Netflix reveals huge viewing figures for The Crown - but how accurate are they?

Netflix has revealed viewing figures for The Crown for the first time, stating that an impressive 73 million households have tuned in to the show since it premiered in 2016.

But the data arrives after the streaming service changed the way it measures its audience figures with just two minutes of streaming now counting as a "view."

As reported by the BBC, Netflix claims that the third season of The Crown, starring new cast members Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter and Tobias Menzies, was watched in 21 million homes in its first four weeks - 40 percent up from the second season.

The streaming service’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the new figures proved The Crown’s "popularity grows with each new season."

"Seventy-three million households around the world have made The Crown part of the global cultural zeitgeist," he said.

But as revealed by the Hollywood Reporter, Netflix is now measuring views as when a member “chooses to watch” a title, which they count from as little as two minutes of streaming.

A footnote in their earnings report says that time is “long enough to indicate the choice was intentional.”

Netflix previously measured views by tracking when users had watched at least 70 percent of one episode of a series, or 70 percent of a feature film.

"Our new methodology is similar to the BBC iPlayer in their rankings based on 'requests' for the title, 'most popular' articles on The New York Times, which include those who opened the articles, and YouTube view counts," Netflix said in its earnings report.

"This way, short and long titles are treated equally, leveling the playing field for all types of our content including interactive content, which has no fixed length."

Netflix says the new metric results in viewer counts around 35 percent higher than the previous measurements.

In addition to the viewing numbers for The Crown, Netflix also announced that Henry Cavill’s new fantasy drama The Witcher was watched by 76 million households in its first month, making it their most-watched first season original TV series.

Standard Online has contacted Netflix for comment.

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