Erik Gruenwedel

June 4, 2018

Netflix is ranked the second most-popular TV network behind Discovery Channel, according to new data from YouGov.

In a survey of more than 5,500 adults through May 28, Redwood City, Calif.-based YouGov found 76% of respondents viewed Netflix favorably — about the same as Discovery Channel.

Other channels in the Top 10 included National Geographic Channels, History, The Weather Channel, Animal Planet, PBS, AMC Networks, A&E Networks and FX. TNT, HBO, ABC, CBS ranked 12th-15th, respectively.

The findings come as support for the subscription streaming video pioneer has fallen 16% among Republicans, while increasing 15% among Democrats.

While Netflix has largely avoided politics, it’s two most prominent executives — Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos — are Democrats. Sarandos’ wife Nicole was U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas during the Obama Administration. The couple gave more than $500,000 to the Obama presidential campaign in 2012.

The Sarandos were also largely responsible for convincing Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to recently ink a production deal with the SVOD behemoth.

Earlier this year, Netflix signed former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice to its board of directors.

Netflix cut its teeth in the political talk show genre with Chelsea Chandler’s “Chelsea,” which streamed for two years through 2017. It now hosts a periodic talk show format series with David Letterman, whose first guest was Barack Obama.

Last month, it started streaming “The Break with Michelle Wolf,” a late-night talk show starring the comic who infamously savaged the press and White House, including press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, during the White House Correspondents Dinner in April.

That said, only 5% of YouGov respondents viewed Netflix negatively, with 17% neutral and 2% claiming to have never heard of Netflix.

Speaking at the New York Paley Center for Media May 29, Sarandos responded to allegations Netflix skews toward the left politically.

“This is not The Obama Network,” said Sarandos, as reported by Variety. “There’s no political slant to the programming.”