Though Netflix is quick to tell us when one of its shows tops a record number of viewers, it’s often light on specifics, prompting some to question whether the show’s top 10 lists are legit or manufactured to drum up more views on the shows and movies it wants us to watch.
The streaming service has heard those complaints, so it’s now offering a little more transparency into its viewership data and how it’s highlighting movies and series. Every Tuesday, a new website—top10.netflix.com—will serve up a list of that week’s most popular content on Netflix.
You can drill down to see the global Top 10 lists for Films (English), TV (English), Films (non-English) and TV (non-English), Pablo Perez De Rosso, Netflix VP of Content Strategy and Planning & Analysis, says in a blog post. Netflix will also break down the data to provide country-specific rankings for over 90 different regions. It’s in English and Spanish right now, but support for more languages will be added next year.
The site will measure popularity by hours viewed, which Netflix says “is a strong indicator of a title’s popularity, as well as overall member satisfaction, which is important for retention in subscription services.” Previously, Netflix tallied the number of accounts that watched at least two minutes of something in its first 28 days on Netflix versus hours streamed.
It’s not going to dwell on whether you watched every last second of a show or movie, though. “We believe that whether you miss the end of one episode in a 10-hour series (a crying baby or Netflix and chill), or you don’t wait for the Easter egg in the credits sequence, or you rewatch one scene multiple times rather than the whole film, all that viewing should be reflected in the popularity of the title,” it says.
Still not convinced? The company says it’s “engaged EY, an independent accounting firm, to review our new viewing metrics, and we will publish their report in 2022.”
