• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Ted’s Transparency Soapbox

After years of advocating data obfuscation, Netflix’s Sarandos is focusing on transparency with his twice-a-year data dumps to frame the competition in a way he knows he can win, then advocating for his rivals to play his new game.

Ted Sarandos
It wasn’t that long ago that Sarandos, the nice-guy newcomer to the original content game, graciously allowed his creatives to remain blissfully unaware of how many people watched their shows and movies. Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix
Matthew Belloni
September 20, 2024

Isn’t it weird how Ted Sarandos’s philosophical perspective on data transparency tends to line up exactly with what helps Netflix squash its competitors? Sarandos isn’t just the co-C.E.O. of the most successful company in the streaming business… he’s now also a crusader for industry-wide ratings and accountability, declaring Netflix’s top 10 lists and twice-a-year data dumps the new gold standard. “I don’t think we could be any more transparent than that,” he said at a Fast Company conference yesterday, adding, “I’m hoping that the other folks in the business will follow suit on that.”