Disney+ Hit A New Record Thanks To The Little Mermaid

Would it surprise regular readers of /Film that this very topic has everything to do with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes?

First and most obviously, there’s the little matter of how studios continue to insist they’re unable to provide precise viewership numbers to the unions, which conveniently complicates the idea of implementing viewership-based residuals for streaming shows and movies. Yet, somehow, major companies like Disney magically find the ability to scrounge up enough data to boast about the views for their latest blockbusters. Folks, the math definitely ain’t mathing.

Secondly, there’s the matter of actually defining one’s terms. Studios have increasingly muddied the waters by relying on wildly different metrics that seem to change with each and every press release. For example, Disney previously reported the viewership numbers on “Hocus Pocus 2” in terms of “minutes watched,” an intentionally vague and undefined term — not views, as they just did for “The Little Mermaid.” As if that weren’t confusing enough, however, this latest announcement comes with an ending disclaimer noting that views aren’t really views. According to Disney, “A view is defined as total stream time divided by runtime.” I’m the furthest thing from a mathematical genius, I admit, but I have several questions about how accurate such measurements truly are. Suddenly, “16 million views” feels less like 16 million individual Disney+ accounts watched the actual movie from beginning to end, and more like an arbitrary number pulled out of a made-up algorithmic equation.

So while it’s easy to believe that “The Little Mermaid” is performing well on streaming, is it truly on a record-breaking pace? We don’t really know, and that’s the entire problem here. In short, studios need better viewership transparency so they can pay their writers and actors what they’re owed.