Netflix’s Top 10 list has undergone some changes so that the site can better represent the popularity of certain shows. Originally it simply ordered its list in terms of hours viewed, but this left shorter series and films at a disadvantage. Of course, a series with 10 episodes, an hour long each, is going to have more hours viewed over a 140-minute film, but this doesn’t reflect how many people are actually watching it. The new tallying measure will take into account “views” rather than “viewing time.”
The streaming giant will take the total number of hours that a film or series is watched in a week and then divide it by the total running time to give a more accurate read on how many views it has had. This does not account for how many people may be watching at one time though, some films may be being watched by one person alone, another by a family of five. It also doesn’t take into account repeat viewings on the same account either.
This has already led to some shows topping others, with Never Have I Ever rising above the sixth season of Black Mirror despite the latter having more hours viewed in total. Black Mirror had a total of 58.7 million hours viewed compared to Never Have I Ever‘s 56.4 million, but the teen comedy series was watched by more accounts, with 11.5 million compared to the former’s 11.3 million. And this isn’t the only change to the top 10 that has caused some upheavals.
It is also changing the time frame for its Top 10, from 28 to 91 days, which is to take into account a show with long-term popularity. This does nothing for reigning champ Squid Game which still sits atop its throne, but it has meant that Wednesday has overtaken Stranger Things season four on the English-language series list. Wednesday originally had 1.72 billion hours over a 13-week period compared to Stranger Things’ 1.84 billion hours, but when we divide that by the runtime of Wednesday (six-hours, 49-minutes) the series ends up with 252.1 million views to Stranger Things season 4’s 140.7 million (hours viewed divided by a runtime of 13 hours and four minutes).
This all allows series and films with a shorter runtime a better chance to hit make the Top 10 list based less on hours viewed and more on how many accounts are tuning in to watch them.