Netflix and Amazon are in a constant battle for supremacy in the streaming arena with each investing big in content. Transparent is by all means the standard bearer for Amazon Studios’ original series efforts with its critical acclaim, Emmys and role in making transgender rights a mainstream social issue, but is Transparent bigger than Netflix’s originals? This is difficult to tell as streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon do not release viewership information.
Transparent well behind Netflix’s and Hulu’s original series
However, according to ratings from measurement company Symphony Advanced Media, Transparent is not as popular as Netflix’s original series. Amazon’s popular show falls short of other original steaming series on Netflix, Hulu and even some of its fellow Amazon shows, according to the ratings provided by Symphony to Variety. Transparent Season Two averaged a 0.68 rating with 1.49 million total adult viewers ages 18-49.
This places Transparent on a lower plane than the other highest-rated streaming series Symphony measured. Netflix’s Fuller House, the ’90s sitcom revival, averaged an 11.31 demo rating and 21.51 million total adults. Other ratings include: Netflix’s F is for Family (3.47, 7.01 million); The Ranch (4.34, 9.54 million); Love (2.18, 4.09 million); Master of None (3.28, 5.85 million); Flaked (0.97, 2.07 million); With Bob & David (1.04, 1.98 million) and Hulu’s The Mindy Project (0.88, 1.63 million).
Additionally, Transparent was outperformed by Amazon’s highest-rated original series, The Man in the High Castle, (1.42, 3.44 million). Transparent comes up short of the top half-hour series on HBO as well, using live-plus-seven (within seven days of premiere) measurements. Silicon Valley (2.42 million), Veep (1.53 million) and Girls (1.31 million) achieved several times greater audiences than Transparent, and that without including digital viewing from HBO Go and HBO Now, according to Nielsen’s total-viewer counts.
Netflix owns several top-rated series
According to Symphony, many of the highest-rated series originated from Netflix, including Daredevil (6.03, 11.65 million), House of Cards (4.10, 9.05 million), Jessica Jones (4.52, 9.30 million), and the highest-rated Making a Murderer (9.65 demo rating and 19.35 million total adults in live-plus-35).
Given Netflix’s customer base, this makes sense as the streaming giant boasts 46 million U.S. subscribers, whereas Hulu has just 12 million. Amazon does not release streaming numbers for its Prime service. Amazon has 54 million Prime subscribers, but it is unclear how many of them access original series, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners last year.
Symphony started tracking television and digital ratings in September. The company collects data for its ratings through audio code recognition software, which measures the viewing habits of a panel of more than 15,000 people.
