In this era where the Streaming Wars are in full effect and each streamer is vying for attention in an attempt to prove that it is the biggest platform for original content, we’re bound to get news like what Hulu is now claiming in regards to the release of “Palm Springs.” Apparently, the new rom-com, “Palm Springs,” which set records earlier this year at Sundance with Hulu and NEON paying an insane amount of money to purchase the distribution rights, is now the biggest launch ever for the streaming service. Though, there aren’t any hard numbers to back that up.
According to IndieWire, Hulu is claiming that “Palm Springs” attracted more “hours watched” than any other film over its first three days. And in addition, the comedy was the most-discussed Hulu original film on Twitter ever during that same period.
So, let’s just dive into the numbers and see how “Palm Springs” ranks alongside other comparable Hulu original films releases. Hmmm…checks notes… It appears there are no numbers or evidence to back up the claims. Well, okay then.
Snark aside, this claim by Hulu is just the latest in a long string of streaming services trotting out these massive “records” without actually providing context, evidence, or any sort of numbers to back them up. And when they do provide numbers, such as the case with Netflix in recent months, the stats are released only by the platform without third-party corroboration and are usually using metrics that are hard to quantify.
For example, with “Palm Springs,” Hulu is claiming that the film has the “most hours watched” than any other original film during its first three days of launch. Okay, but how many of those people actually watched the whole thing? Is Hulu counting hours as full units, meaning that an “hour watched” is done by one household or is it safe to assume that 5 people could watch 12 minutes each to constitute an “hour?” Long story short, the headline sounds great for “Palm Springs” and Hulu, but without any hard evidence or a number that actually makes sense (total number of households that watched the entire film, for example), it’s difficult to take this claim on face value.
Sure, “Palm Springs” is a good movie, and our review definitely backs that up. We always want the best for these types of Sundance success stories. But we also would love to see hard evidence to show success. You know, like what happens with the Box Office and TV ratings (as flawed as they are). Until then, we just get these claims from streamers and just have to take it on face value. Joy.
