Netflix is changing how they measure and report their Daily Top 1o. The streamer has traditionally generated their Daily Top 10 by way of measuring a sample of 2-minutes viewed per title. The company continues to hold some metric data close to the chest from viewers who complete a title/series to revenue generated as a result of watching any given title/series (via subscribers) to anything else that has to do with revenue. Unlike movie studios, who have traditionally reported box office earnings, none of the streaming services report that data publicly, be it Netflix, Amazon, HBO Max, etc.
Netflix has been leading the charge in streaming since it first began doing so, most recently reported as having more than 207 million subscribers. Trailing them is Amazon with just over 200 million subs, then Disney+ with over 100 million subs and HBO Max at over 44 million subscribers. The streamer has a vast number of film and TV series projects running, in the works, or being acquired, making the biggest push on a global scale to date.
Now, Netflix is changing the way they report their daily numbers, switching out the traditional 2-minute metric for a more comprehensive one. In addition, Netflix is launching a new website to house the data, which will be updated every Tuesday to reflect current numbers. According to THR, "the rankings will now be based on the total number of hours viewed for a given title rather than Netflix’s previous standard of a two-minute sample." This makes for a more "digestible" approach to understanding what's popular on the streaming service, giving insight to viewers and creators alike. Pablo Perez De Rosso, VP of Content strategy, Planning and Analysis for Netflix, says this new model is believed to be the best metric to use for the company, saying:
“Having looked at the different options, we believe engagement as measured by hours viewed is a strong indicator of a title’s popularity, as well as overall member satisfaction, which is important for retention in subscription services."
Netflix just debuted their original film, Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot, which ended up having their biggest opening day ever. According to the data on Netflix's new Top 10 website, Red Notice has been viewed for 148,720,000 hours, making it the number one title for the week. The website also allows users to see TV series data, which is broken down into English and Non-English series. Currently, Squid Game sits at number one for Non-English at 42,790,000 hours viewed, while Narcos: Mexico season 3 sits at number one for English at 50,290,000 hours viewed. The site also breaks down the data by way of country, showing what's performing best globally from nation to nation.
While it would be interesting (and quite informative) to see revenue data comparisons for Netflix, it's understandable to a point that they would want to keep that data secret. Ultimately, Netflix is able to budget for a wide range of original projects, as well as acquisitions, and as long as the spigot is open and new content is flowing, then viewers will be happy. For data hounds who love to crunch this type of information, it will be a great resource to collect info, while providing a simple snapshot of what's popular (and what isn't) on the streamer from week-to-week. Either way, Netflix is making more moves toward transparency, which could very well open it up other streamers to do the same.
Source: THR, Netflix