'Extant' Breaks Amazon U.K. Streaming Record...Maybe...Sort Of

In a streaming media industry that's short on specifics about nearly any metric of success, Amazon is in a category all its own. For all the complaining that rival Netflix won't release viewer numbers for their original programs, Amazon takes the secrecy to another level by refusing to share even the most basic of metrics.

How many people subscribe to Amazon Prime? We have no idea. How many of the people who subscribe to Amazon Prime actually view any of the free streaming media included as part of the subscription? Once again, we have no clue.

So when Amazon U.K. issues a press release touting the fact that the new CBS drama "Extant" has "attracted record audience numbers for episode one in its opening 24 hours with streams three times higher than any other opening episode of a TV show in the history of the UK’s largest movie and TV streaming service," there is no way to put that claim in context. 3 million streams is three times more than a million streams. But thirty streams is also three times ten streams.

It's galling that Amazon continues to tout these mushy streaming claims, but it's even more distressing how many journalists simply take the press release, rework a few lines and regurgitate it out bereft of any insight or context.

Is "Extant" a streaming success for Amazon in the U.K.? Apparently. But without specific numbers, then these claims are nothing but empty PR statements that don't offer any indication of "Extant's" popularity of Amazon's ability to deliver a streaming audience.