Netflix has launched a new "Top 10" website that will list its most popular shows and movies around the world, and in your country, along with new metrics to show you just how popular those shows and movies are.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about Netflix's new Top 10 website and how it will help you finally find something to watch.
Netflix Launches Top 10 to Show What's Popular
Netflix wants to be more transparent about its content's viewership statistics, so it has launched a new website called Top 10. It features rankings for its movies and TV shows, as well as new metrics for measuring that content's popularity.
This is Netflix's solution to addressing criticism that it has been selective in the viewership information it makes public. The streaming giant is known for holding its cards close to its chest when it comes to how it gets its statistics, and what information it chooses to make public.
Through the launch of its Netflix's Top 10 website, Netflix is making good on its recent promise to be more transparent about viewership data.
Netflix has previously reported the number of households who watched a program for two minutes, and has highlighted its top 10 programs in more than 90 countries, although it did not provide any hard numbers for context.
In addition to listing the top 10 films and TV shows for each country, Netflix will also release occasional specialty lists, such as for top documentary features or reality shows.
How Netflix's Top 10 Website Works
The new Top 10 website will be a hub for Netflix's best performing titles, which will be updated every Tuesday, tracking the most watched content from the previous Monday through Sunday.
Besides allowing you to see what’s popular in each country, Netflix’s new Top 10 website also offers ideas for new content to watch.
In a Netflix blog post announcing the new website, Netflix's VP of Content Strategy, Planning & Analysis, Pablo Perez De Rosso, highlighted its aim for the new hub:
People want to understand what success means in a streaming world, and these lists offer the clearest answer to that question in our industry. Most of all, though, we hope our new weekly Top 10 on Netflix will help fans discover new stories and join new conversations— whether it’s understanding your friend’s new found passion for chess, the value of a won or what’s going on with all those "cool cats and kittens".
The website will feature weekly global and country lists of the most popular films and shows on the platform (both original and licensed) in the following categories:
- Films (English)
- Films (Non-English)
- TV (English)
- TV (Non-English)
Until now, Netflix has only revealed that viewership is constituted by at least two minutes of watch time. Now, Netflix is ranking content by the total number of hours each title was watched to make it easier to see what others are really into.
As stated in Netflix's shareholder letter:
We think engagement as measured by hours viewed is a slightly better indicator of the overall success of our titles and member satisfaction. It also matches how outside services measure TV viewing and gives proper credit to rewatching. In addition, we will start to release title metrics more regularly outside of our earnings report so our members and the industry can better measure success in the streaming world.
As for how Netflix's new metrics will work, every season of a show will be counted as a separate title, but repeated watches within a season (episodes) will count towards that season’s overall watch hours.
In light of the launch of Top 10, De Rosso notes the challenges in defining metrics in streaming in Netflix's announcement blog post, saying:
Figuring out how best to measure success in streaming is hard, and there’s no one perfect metric. 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.
What Impact Will Netflix's Top 10 Website Have?
Top 10 will make it easier for subscribers to find something to watch, but what does the launch of this platform mean for Netflix? Ten titles is a lot of content for subscribers to choose from or get through in a week—that's more than one a day if you're an avid viewer.
If more viewers spend their average Netflix time catching up on the most popular titles on the Top 10 website, that could lead to other titles on Netflix's catalog getting even less watch time.
Perhaps with time Netflix will use data to inform how to give titles that are performing poorly a boost on its platform so they, too, can get more watch time.
Maybe it can even find smarter, more creative ways—like Top 10—to do this, instead of merely suggesting what to watch, which some subscribers can find annoying.
Netflix's Top 10 website is currently available in English and Spanish, with more languages coming in 2022.
Netflix Is Helping You Find Something Interesting to Watch
It's an ongoing joke that there is nothing to watch on Netflix. Because Top 10 curates Netflix's best performing content in your country, you'll have at least ten movies or shows to try every week. Not only that, but these are shows that people would probably be talking about already due to their popularity.
This solves your problem of not knowing what to watch, and will help you keep up on the latest trending movies and shows, if anything.