For the first time, Netflix has disclosed its top-10 rankings based on the number of hours of a program that re watched by audiences within its first month of release.
In the past, many have criticized Netflix for its viewership stats. Many believe that the number of accounts that viewed a particular show for at least two minutes is not an accurate representation of its popularity. Instead, all the data is showing is how many people tried watching the show or movie. However, with the hours-watched metric that Netflix recently released, the streaming platform is doing something it has never done before.
What are Netflix's most popular movies and shows?
Here are Netflix's most popular TV shows in the first 28 days of their release:
- Bridgerton, season 1 - 625 million hours
- Money Heist, part 4 - 619 million hours
- Stranger Things 3 - 582 million hours
- The Witcher, season 1 - 541 million hours
- 13 Reasons Why, season 2 - 496 million hours
- 13 Reasons Why, season 1 - 476 million hours
- You, season 2 - 457 million hours
- Stranger Things 2 - 427 million hours
- Money Heist, part 3 - 426 million hours
- Ginny & Georgia, season 1 - 381 million hours
On the other hand, here are Netflix's most popular movies in the first 28 days of their release:
- Bird Box - 282 million hours
- Extraction - 231 million hours
- The Irishman - 215 million hours
- The Kissing Booth 2 - 209 million hours
- 6 Underground - 205 million hours
- Spenser Confidential - 197 million hours
- Enola Holmes - 190 million hours
- Army of the Dead - 187 million hours
- The Old Guard - 186 million hours
- Murder Mystery - 170 million hours
Netflix's decision to release the hours-watched metric makes for amuch more effective demonstration of the strength of Netflix Originals. For example, three Netflix Originals show up on the list at least twice: Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, and Money Heist. The first two are especially surprising. Both Season 2 of Stranger Things and Season 1 of 13 Reasons Why premiered back in 2017 when Netflix had several hundred million fewer subscribers than it did within the past two years.
Of course, the said metric isn't perfect. It favors movies and TV shows with longer runtimes. This is evidenced by The Irishman's appearance on the list, which had a notoriously long 3-hour runtime.
Either way, this is all good news for everyone involved.
In the past, Netflix had refused to share such confidential information with everyone. Even showrunners had no clue how well their shows and movies were doing on Netflix. This is a welcome change that should benefit Netflix going forward as it faces a growing list of competition from the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max, among others.
Hopefully, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos can keep true to his words at Vox Media's Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California where explained he that Netflix is making an effort to be "more transparent" with its metrics.
In other Netflix news, the streaming giant recently held its first-ever TUDUM showcase where it dropped more news about the latest season of The Witcher, Ozark Season 4, Tiger King 2, and the fourth season of Cobra Kai, among several others.
