As Netflix has gained subscribers, frozen pizza sales have grown, a correlation of 0.979 that is so obviously true it barely qualifies as a correlation—it is a lifestyle. The subscription activates, the pizza preheats, and both are consumed simultaneously by the same person on the same couch during the same binge session. The chart is not finding a correlation; it is describing a Friday night.
Netflix grew from about 33 million to over 230 million subscribers. Frozen pizza grew from about 5 billion to over 7 billion dollars between 2012 and 2022. Both serve the same stay-at-home entertainment consumer: the person who subscribes to streaming and stocks the freezer is the same person, and both purchases scale with the same behavioral trend—staying home and being entertained. The pandemic accelerated both trends by making the couch the center of American social life.
Eleven years of Netflix and frozen pizza is the most honest consumer correlation on this site: both products are literally consumed together, by the same person, at the same time. The episode queues, the oven preheats, and the chart records a correlation that is less statistics and more lifestyle documentation. The subscription is monthly. The pizza is weekly. The couch is permanent.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Netflix subscribers worldwide” vs “US frozen pizza retail sales” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
