Before today, OTT giant Netflix used to report its weekly and all-time streaming viewership on the basis of only the number of hours viewed for its movies and shows. But from now on, Netflix will include two major parameters in these top ten lists. These two new metrics are ‘Views’ (estimated views) and ‘Runtime’ in addition to the number of hours viewed. And this will significantly change the way the titles are ranked.
For calculating the newly added viewership metric ‘Views’, the number of hours viewed will be divided by the title’s runtime. It’s an important change because now, the rankings in the Netflix top ten lists will be ascertained by the ‘Views’ parameter instead of ‘Hours Viewed’. Moreover, the measurement window in the most popular lists has been increased from 28 days to 91 days.
The addition of new viewership metrics has led to some interesting changes in the rankings of Netflix top ten most popular lists. ‘Stranger Things 4’, which was, until yesterday, the top ranked title on Netflix’s most popular English TV shows list, has now been outranked by ‘Wednesday’. Because Wednesday has got a higher number of ‘Views’ (252.1 million) compared to ‘Stranger Things S4’ (140.7 million). Despite the fact that ‘Stranger Things S4’ has a higher ‘Hours Viewed’ figure.
And, in a way, the new viewership metric seems to be fairer. Because now, even those Netflix shows with a relatively shorter runtime will have a fighting chance to be in the top ten most popular list.
After the new viewership metric addition, ‘The Watcher’ and ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ have also made it to the all-time most popular Netflix list.
Another interesting thing about the new viewership metric is that now, the all-time most popular lists will be made for a period of 91 days. 91 days is around a quarter of a year and companies including Netflix usually report their financial results on a quarterly basis. The increased 91-day period also makes sense when we take into account that OTT viewers now watch a particular show a few days or even weeks after their original release. So, the renewed 91-day period might give more accurate viewing stats compared to previously reported figures.
Check out the latest top ten most popular TV shows and movies lists in accordance with the new viewership metric as per Netflix top ten portal.