[imagesource: NDTV]

In order to measure what’s a hit and what’s a miss, people have come up with various methods to guesstimate how popular something is on streaming giant Netflix.

A popular method involves analysing how long a series or movie stays on Netflix’s top 10 charts, assigning points for each day based on where on that list the title features.

You can see those results here, correct as of July.

That list can now be retired, with Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos sharing a significant haul of data at this year’s Code conference.

More from The Verge:

In one slide, shared while Sarandos was speaking on the Code stage with Kara Swisher, Netflix shared numbers about how many accounts viewed its top 10 films and series based on the number of accounts that watched at least two minutes of the title during the first 28 days it was on Netflix.

Let’s start with the top 10 series.

Remember, a view is counted as watching at least two minutes of the title during the first 28 days it was on Netflix.

What do I take from this?

As long as at least 50 million of those watching Emily in Paris turned off after the first episode, I’m happy. What a pile of utter shite.

Also, Tiger King was undoubtedly a smash hit, but there has been far less fanfare around some of the other titles above it.

Now for the top 10 films:

Netflix might make movies like The Irishman and Mank for Oscars glory, but they can’t compete with the mass appeal stuff on that list above.

During the same conference, the streaming giant also released the top 10 films and series based on their total viewed hours during their first 28 days on the service:

There’s The Irishman.

It does help that the movie is just shy of three-and-a-half hours long.

Even using these metrics, defining what is and isn’t a hit is far from a perfect science:

Netflix’s data was tracked by total hours of viewing and the length of time viewers spent watching a title during its first month on the service. Talent and production companies, however, might be more interested in the number of times a title was viewed start to finish, or how many total people — not just accounts — are watching their shows.

Ultimately, without a unified standard among services for what those metrics for success look like, streamers are still very much playing by their own individual rules.

Netflix is still out in front when compared to rivals like Disney, Apple, HBO, and Amazon, boasting in excess of 200 million subscribers.

The company says that in the US, 25% of the time people spend watching TV is spent watching streaming.

25% of that time is spent watching Netflix.

I guess even Emily in Paris is better than Fox News.

[source:verge]