Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has just cut off a method companies use to at least have a picture of how many people view their original programming, a report from Recode notes.
The development comes as Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has decided to tighten its control over what information companies which provide analysis to internet service providers (ISPs) about their networks see.
As a case in point, companies like Procera Networks can no longer see data that gives them an idea of how many people view a particular show on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) using the internet networks of one of their client ISPs. The company analyses the performance of networks for ISPs.
In the past, Procera Networks has reported about details of what it gathered about how many people have watched the original shows the content distribution company has made. It did so for the first season of House of Cards, Arrested Development and the second season of House of Cards.
However, Procera Networks will not be able to do this anymore.
The way Procera Networks builds a picture of how many people view Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shows is that it analyses traffic on ISP networks. Though a process called deep packet inspection, the company has been able to see the files that users streamed. Recode says that in the past, Netflix named their files in such a way that it can be attributed to a particular show at a particular quality. In an update, Netflix is said to have randomized file names. As a result, deep packet inspection will no longer yield the same information that gave Procera Networks its data.
Procera Networks may not be able to divulge exact viewership data, but it did provide an idea of how many people watched shows put out by the content distribution firm. In contrast, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has always kept its numbers secret.
Perhaps now those numbers will always be a secret to those outside of the company.
Disclosure: None
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