Netflix looks like it wants to to bring classic TV ratings with the announcement that it’s going to start publishing lists of its most viewed TV shows and movies.
The lists will be be posted on the Netflix website and updated weekly for everyone to peruse, as per Vox. There will be several top 10 lists ranking titles by the number of hours subscribers have spent in total watching them. There will be top 10 lists for 90 different countries too, breaking it down even further.
And in the interest of transparency, Netflix says it will bring in accounting firm Ernst & Young to audit its data. Just as long as I can’t see my personal viewing figures, which will show that I watch a worrying amount of Netflix, they can publish whatever data they want.
It makes sense why Netflix have finally decided to do this: the streaming platform has been mocked in the past for being highly selective when it came to releasing audience numbers. It always seemed to be when they had some figures to boast about; every OG Netflix show or movie always seemed to be a record-breaker.
It must also mean that Netflix is confident that the published numbers will reflect well on the company. It’s quite clearly a callout to Netflix’s rivals such as Disney+ and Hulu to prove that they can compete with similar viewing figures.
As Vox points out, these numbers will be fun for us viewers to peruse casually, but it’s really for the professionals. That’s a little scary though – what if investors see huge numbers for Red Notice and plan a sequel? That has to be avoided at all costs.
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