Netflix’s Most Viewed Movies List Is About To Change Again

Netflix’s viewer numbers have always been a bit murky, but the streaming giant’s new system aims to clear things up. Netflix will soon track the number of viewers based on the number of hours a certain show or movie has been watched, the streamer announced during its Third quarter earnings report on Tuesday. While this change gives us a better idea of ​​what’s popular, it has also resulted in an unexpectedly fun data table.

For years, Netflix said nothing about how many viewers tuned in to a certain show or movie. Then the streaming service reported how many people watched 70% of a show or movie. These days, an account “view” has been counted when a member watches only two minutes or more of a show.

According to Netflix, the new metric is designed to better reflect repeat visits, rather than just counting each account once. For example, the above metric would favor shows that attract a lot of unique viewers, such as King tiger. The new metric favors time spent on a show or movie, such as For thirteen reasons. It would seem to favor rigidity over temporary peaks in popularity.

Image: Netflix

While most of the old Netflix top 10 titles are still present in the new one, there are a couple of very fun additions. On the one hand, Martin Scorsese’s criminal epic, the Irish, a movie that was not in the top 10 movies list based on the previous metric, by most accounts, is now the third most viewed movie in Netflix history. In other words, the notoriously long movie may have been long enough to make it into the top five.

For his part, Scorsese has been a vocal critic of broadcasting services in the past, even though he keep making movies for them. The legendary director has claimed that the flood of content on these platforms, and even the “content” label itself, devalues ​​the art form and buries truly great works. You may feel better about things now that you know your epic received more attention than was initially reported.

At the other end of the spectrum is another new addition to the list: The kissing booth 2. Weather the IrishThe three and a half hour runtime is probably tied to your new rating, The kissing booth 2 it’s only two hours and 14 minutes (still pretty long), which means you’re getting a better spot thanks in large part to reps.

The change should help Netflix’s numbers be a bit clearer in future calls and earnings announcements. But Netflix last used its old system during the same earnings call. The streaming service announced that the hit South Korean series Squid It has been watched by 142 million households since its launch on September 17. That does Squid the most popular series in the history of the service.

Netflix also announced that it would reveal viewer data for its original shows and movies more frequently in the future, which means we can expect even stranger numbers and delicate metrics in the future.