Little Change Seen in Netflix’s New Show Ranking System

Netflix has announced changes to how it calculates its top 10 shows and movies. However, the new metric is still not very helpful to viewers and advertisers. Instead of ranking titles based on total viewing time, Netflix will now rank them based on “views,” defined as the number of hours viewed divided by the total runtime. This news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

As an example, Extraction 2, starring Chris Hemsworth, received 43 million “views” from June 12th to June 18th. This is calculated by dividing the 88.38 million hours viewed by the 2.07 hours of runtime. This new system still keeps the actual number of viewers undisclosed, which would be more useful information to both viewers and advertisers.

The change in calculating top shows and movies aims to give an equal chance to longer titles and allow easier comparison of the impact of movies and series. However, it still falls short of revealing specific viewership numbers, which will only be shared with creators.

Netflix states that by being consistent and transparent about viewership, it can provide better insights into streaming success. Granular data will be shared with creators, and feedback will be taken into account.

In addition to the new metric, Netflix has extended the qualifying time for its most popular titles from 28 days to 91 days. This means a show’s long-term performance will now impact its ranking. Consequently, Wednesday’s first season has become Netflix’s most popular English-language TV show, surpassing Stranger Things 4.

Netflix, along with other streaming platforms, has been reluctant to share viewership data, which is crucial for advertisers and content creators. Unfortunately, specific viewership numbers remain undisclosed.

Disclosure: The Verge recently produced a series with Netflix.