Unless you’ve been hiding away in a cave somewhere and haven’t been paying attention to the world news this past week (and honestly, your mental health probably thanks you), you are well aware that “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” aka ‘Borat 2’ was released on Amazon Prime Video over the weekend. And while the first film was released 14 years ago and ended its run as one of the most successful comedies of the 2000s, people were curious whether or not the sequel would be able to recapture the hearts and minds of audiences. Well, according to a press release from Amazon, ‘Borat 2’ was a “great success!” (Yes, that’s exactly how the company described it.)
READ MORE: ‘Borat 2’: Wa Wa Wee Wa, ‘Subsequent Moviefilm’ Is Very Niiice… Not! [Review]
Unfortunately, we have no real way of knowing what a “Great Success!” means to Amazon because the streaming company didn’t release any real statistics to back up its claims. In lieu of concrete numbers, the official press release from Amazon said, “During its opening weekend it was streamed by tens of millions of customers. Within the first few hours of the watch party on Thursday night, a million-plus fans tuned in to interact live with Borat himself and participate in a dance party with fans around the world.”
So, what does “tens of millions of customers” mean? Is that 20 million? 50 million? 90 million? We don’t know. And guess what? We’ll likely never know. You see, the problem we’re seeing now with streaming services (particularly the big ones such as Prime Video, Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max) is these platforms don’t have to report any numbers. Unlike when studios release films in theaters or TV networks working with a ratings system, there are no third-party companies tallying results and releasing exact numbers. The statistics we receive from Amazon and its ilk are whatever they want us to know.
Obviously, it’s in Amazon’s best interest to let everyone know that ‘Borat 2’ was a big draw for subscribers, but without any real numbers, we just have to take the company’s word for it. Plus, we don’t know how many of those “tens of millions of customers” watched the entire film or just a few minutes. Does Amazon tally its numbers in a similar way to Netflix, which reportedly counts a “view” when a customer watches a couple of minutes of the content? Who knows? There’s no transparency.
As we move to a streaming-dominated world, with theaters seemingly on the verge of total collapse, the lack of viewership transparency when it comes to streaming services is troubling. When it comes to the traditional ratings system for TV shows and the box office for films, the numbers aren’t always just about knowing which projects are hits. It’s also a way for people to hold studios accountable when things don’t do well. But when we only hear the good news from streaming services and they never have to come clean about bombs, the studios hold all the power. And in the case of Amazon, who also dabbles with theatrical releases and has had some serious disappointments (“Suspiria,” “The Report,” and “Beautiful Boy” are prestige features with big casts that didn’t do nearly as well as expected), why bother releasing numbers when you can just tell the world ‘Borat 2’ was huge and not be forced to back the claims up?
READ MORE: Family Films Dominate As ‘Mulan’ Leads The List Of Top PVOD Films During The Pandemic
Should this bother anyone outside of those people that work in the industry? Probably not. There are plenty of other things people should be concerned about. However, for those people that watch a lot of streaming content and wonder why Netflix will give the Russo Brothers $200 million to make an action film with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling but won’t spend the money on “GLOW” Season 4, the lack of transparency with viewership can be frustrating. And in the case of Amazon and ‘Borat 2,’ the viewership can be used as a political tool, as one side of the aisle hopes the film is a terrible bomb and the other hopes that it’s a huge hit. Cleverly, Amazon side-stepped any of that mess by touting the film as a “Great Success!” but didn’t bother to provide any stats to back it up.
So, congrats? ‘Borat 2’ had a bunch of viewers. So says Amazon.