The Lists of 2019’s Most Popular Titles Released By Netflix Is Kind of Sad (and Unnecessary)

Netflix has decided to close 2019 by releasing lists of the most popular titles on the streaming service. The lists cover TV shows, original content, and a lot more. We have our usual winners with Stranger Things and The Umbrella Academy as well as a lot of shows I didn’t even know existed.

Since you can’t really check if what Netflix shared is actually true, I suggest you look at these lists with just the right amount of doubt.

Also, I don’t like the criteria the streaming service came up with to determine whether or not something should be added to a list.

Below is the ‘Top 10 Most Popular Releases of 2019’ (in the US). From what I understand, for a title to be added, people had to watch only 2 minutes of it during the first 28 days of release. And you know what? That’s just sad.

It seems the minimum 2-minutes of watch time rule was applied to all of the lists. Again, that’s a very sad (and somewhat desperate) way to create lists. 

Shouldn’t Netflix release a list showcasing content people actually watched to completion or at least more than half of the total running time?

Maybe the streaming service will share such lists down the line? Let’s see what happens.

Anyway, you can check the rest of the lists on Netflix’s Twitter account. The eligibility being 2-minutes of minimum watch time is just… Sigh!

That’s basically the opening credits and recaps!

A far more interesting list, which is also global, seems to be the one released by TV Time. It collected data from the people who used the TV Time app.

With other streaming services entering the market and fighting to get the biggest slice of profit, I think such services would need to be more transparent with their viewing numbers.

Netflix can’t simply continue creating lists that others can’t verify? Or can it?

It will be interesting to see if there will ever come a time where a third-party can gain access to viewing data to share how well certain streaming content is doing. 

I love going over Nielson ratings. And frankly, I want better and verifiable data from streaming services, too.

One of the reasons is so certain fandoms can be sure about how many people are watching the shows they like and don’t have to deal with surprise cancelations.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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