Netflix Movies & Shows

What kinds of factors can cause engagement to change?

Proud Koala
Aniha Kuninti, Jasmine Pearson, Serene Pan

2026-02-12

Introduction: What have we been watching on Netflix?

• Source: Tidytuesday Netflix Engagement Reports
• Size: 61167 Movies and Shows (Rows) x 13 Variables (Cols)
• Unit of Analysis: One Movie/Show Per Reporting Period

Intro to Question 1

Are movies and shows released in certain 6-month windows associated with higher average engagement?

Approach: We aggregate average and median hours viewed by six-month release window and format (movie vs. show), using grouped bar charts and line graphs to compare engagement levels across periods, considering movie and show differences.

• Figure 1: Avg Hours Viewed Separated by Content Type
• Figure 2: Release Window vs Avg Hours Viewed

Q1 Figure 1: Average Hours Viewed by Release Window

Q1 Figure 2: Engagement Trends Over Time

Intro to Question 2

Do longer movies and shows have the same amount of viewer engagement as shorter ones?

Approach: We examine the relationship between runtime and engagement proportion using a smoothed, faceted trend plot to compare movies and TV shows while minimizing noise. We also create a jittered scatterplot of the raw data, with a log transformation.

• Figure 3: Geom_Smooth Plot of Data
• Figure 4: Scatter Plot of Raw Data, Log Scale

Q2 Figure 3: Runtime vs Engagement Proportion

Q2 Figure 4: Raw Engagement vs Runtime (Log Scale)

Key Takeaways

• Shows consistently generate more viewing hours than movies
• Viewer engagement remains close to full runtime across most titles
• Runtime has minimal impact on completion rates
• Viewer behavior appears consistent across release periods