Netflix recently outlined a new method to tracking viewership data, living up to the promises recently made that the company would become more open and transparent in sharing who watches what on the platform, and from where.
The fresh metrics will roll out on a weekly basis, moving away from the previous four-week formula to instead report on the number of hours a film or television title is cumulatively streamed, not the number of households who checked in for at least two minutes to be counted in the figures.
It’s already generated plenty of debate and discussion on social media, but nobody’s going to be left with their jaw on the floor when they discover that one set of maiden rankings from November 8-14 were topped by the unstoppable global phenomenon that is Squid Game.
However, Narcos: Mexico was actually the top-viewed English-language series of the week and in total after garnering 50.3 million viewers, while Squid Game amassed a solid 42.8 million despite having been available on Netflix for two months.
Splitting the rankings into English and non-English seems a little unnecessary, although the more cynical among us might think it has something to do with giving the platform the ability to double its number of so-called ‘record breakers’ and ‘chart-toppers’ in press releases and self-congratulatory tweets.