Netflix Top 10 website to publish list of most popular titles based on hours viewed

Netflix has launched its 'Top 10 on Netflix' which will give weekly insights into the most-watched films and shows on the platform globally as well as country-wise. Netflix has also engaged EY-an independent accounting firm - to review its new metrics. This report will be published in 2022. "We’ve had a lot of feedback about our metrics over the years. So this summer we went back to the drawing board, and today we’re excited to launch 'Top10 on Netflix'—a new website with weekly global and country lists of the most popular titles on our service," Pablo Perez De Rosso VP, Content Strategy, Planning & Analysis, Netflix, said in a blog post.

De Rosso said that the streaming giant will publish a new weekly 'Top 10 on Netflix' every Tuesday based on hours viewed from Monday to Sunday the previous week for both original and licensed titles. "We’ve broken the lists down as follows: global Top 10 lists for Films (English), TV (English), Films (non-English) and TV (non-English), as well as rankings for over 90 countries. The website is currently available in English and Spanish, with more languages to come next year."

These weekly lists are in addition to the daily country Top 10 rows that Netflix had introduced last year. This will now also be based on hours viewed. "We also know fans love to track our most popular films and shows of all time. So we will also update our overall lists, which we first published last month, as new titles become mega hits. These lists are based on the total hours viewed in a title’s first 28 days on Netflix."

As per the top 10 list for November 8 - November 14, 2021 week, 'Red Notice' topped the list in the Films (English) category. The titled was watched for 148.7 million hours during the week and was in Top 10 in Films in 94 countries on Netflix. In the Films (Non-English) category, 'Yara' was the top title with viewing hours of 17.9 million. It was Top 10 in Films in 70 countries on Netflix. 'Narcos: Mexico: Season 3' was the most-watched TV show (English) with 50.29 million hour of viewing. It was Top 10 in TV in 83 countries on Netflix. Among the TV shows (Non-English), 'Squid Game: Season 1' came on top with 42.79 million viewing hours and was Top 10 in TV in 93 countries on Netflix.

Netflix India's original film 'Meenakshi Sundareshwar' was among the Top 10 in Films in 13 countries on Netflix. In Asia, it was among the Top 10 films in Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. In Africa, Mauritius was the only country where it was in Top 10. De Rosso stated that traditional measures like box office or share of audience (which was designed to help advertisers understand success on linear TV) aren’t relevant to most streamers, including Netflix.

"Having looked at the different options, we believe engagement, as measured by hours viewed, is a strong indicator of a title’s popularity, as well as overall member satisfaction, which is important for retention in subscription services. In addition, hours viewed mirrors the way third parties measure popularity, encompasses rewatch (a strong sign of member joy) and can be consistently measured across different companies."

While stating that hours viewed metric favours longer series and films, De Rosso said that the platform will also occasionally publish specialty lists. "For example, top documentary features or reality shows, which our members love, but may appear less prominently in these lists. Some people will ask why we don’t also report the number of members that finish a show or film. 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."