Netflix Makes A 'Popular' Change With Top 10 Lists

This is an important announcement for you and everyone who shares your Netflix password: You can now see the most popular shows on the platform.

As Netflix put it in a blog post , “for the first time” you can see what shows people are watching in your country by way of a Top 10 list. The Top 10 row will be updated every day and has a new design to stand out. Its position on the page will depend on how relevant the top programs are to you.

Besides the overall Top 10 list, there will be a list for movies and TV shows when you click on those respective tabs. Shows and movies that are in the Top 10 will have a badge to make it easier to identify what other viewers are actually watching while you’re browsing around.

Netflix previously tested Top 10 lists in the U.K. and Mexico, and said on the blog that “members in both countries have found them useful.”

According to The Verge , both Netflix original programming and licensed shows will be eligible for the Top 10 lists. The Los Angeles Times also noted that the ranking will be determined based on how many viewers have watched the first two minutes of a program.

Netflix did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the difference between the new Top 10 lists and its “Popular on Netflix” row.

The streaming platform is notoriously stingy on giving out numbers, routinely dropping eye-popping viewership data  that may differ from traditional metrics.  Can users trust these lists, considering whatever appears will likely be the beneficiary of even more viewership? 

Is the Marlon Wayans 2013 comedy “A Haunted House” really more popular today than the new “To All The Boys” sequel? So says Netflix.  

Earlier this month, the streaming service added another major change, allowing users to stop autoplay previews , which is great for anyone who’s been browsing at night and gets suddenly blasted by loud clips of Ashton Kutcher’s “The Ranch” or the Olsen-less “Fuller House.”

Stay tuned for if those shows also end up on the Top 10.