NETFLIX LAUNCHES A NEW “TOP 10” FEATURE

Netflix it’s launching a “Top 10” feature that will show the “most popular” television series and movies on the streaming service. This tool, which is designed to further help viewers to find something to watch, will be updated daily and will be specific to the user's country.

“This new row – complete with its own special design – will enable you to see what is most popular on Netflix in your country. It will be updated every day and the position of the row will vary depending on how relevant the shows and films are to you,” said Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Innovation at Netflix, in a statement.

“In addition to the overall top 10 list, you’ll also be able to see the top 10 most popular series and top 10 films when you click on the movies and TV shows tabs. Shows and films that make these lists will also have a special ‘Top 10’ badge, wherever they appear on Netflix. That way you can easily see what’s in the zeitgeist, whether you’re browsing by genre or through your personal list – or when searching for specific shows or films,”  Johnson added.

The move comes after Netflix experimented with top 10 lists in the United Kingdom and Mexico for the past six months. "Members in both countries have found them useful, so we are now rolling them out to even more," Johnson assured.

The company did not share how the top 10 rankings are determined. Netflix is notoriously stingy with viewership data, releasing numbers only to demonstrate how popular a movie or series is.

However, Netflix also said once that it was changing the way it measures the popularity of its programs. Whereas the company used to report how many accounts watched 70% of a movie or an episode of a TV series, now the company is measuring how many watched any piece of content for at least two minutes — "long enough to indicate the choice was intentional".

If Netflix is using the same measurement system for its top 10, that list ranks the top 10 titles of which member households watched at least two minutes.