Wednesday dukes it out with Stranger Things in new Netflix ranking system

Los Gatos, California - Netflix, known for keeping its user viewing data largely secret, is now giving more insight into its streaming statistics with a new top 10 ranking system that reshuffles the global streaming leaderboard.

Stranger Things season 4 and Wednesday are Netflix's two most popular TV series.
Stranger Things season 4 and Wednesday are Netflix's two most popular TV series.  © Collage: IMAGO / Pond5 & Picturelux

Figures for various categories for the past week (Monday to Sunday), published weekly on Tuesdays since mid-November 2021, will now have new details, the streaming service announced on Tuesday.

"While we will continue to show hours viewed per title, our Top 10 lists will now be ranked by views," Netflix announced. Previously, the top 10 series and movies were sorted solely by hours viewed rather than views.

The number of views is not the same as the number viewers, it must be noted. In fact, the number of views is a figure which Netflix says it calculates by dividing the hours viewed by the running time of the respective production.

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"We will also extend the qualifying time for our most popular lists from around one month (28 days) to three months (91 days) given that many of our shows and films grow significantly over time," Netflix added.

There are two categories each for series (or "TV") and films: and English-language and non-English-language.

The new way of surveying has immediate consequences, especially for Netflix's most popular shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday.

Netflix has debuted a new ranking system.
Netflix has debuted a new ranking system.  © IMAGO / UJ Alexander

In the category "TV (English)", Wednesday starring Jenna Ortega is suddenly the most popular series - and no longer the fourth season of the science fiction mystery series Stranger Things.

Wednesday had about 252 million views after 91 days (about 1.7 billion hours of viewing divided by the running time of 6 hours and 49 minutes).

The fourth season of Stranger Things significantly fewer views (140.7 million) but more hours watched (1.83 billion) due to the longer running time of 13 hours and 4 minutes (with nine episodes, some of them quite long).

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Released on November 23, 2022, Wednesday, an eight-part show produced by master of gothic cinema Tim Burton, revolves around the titular Addams family daughter. At a boarding school for supernatural beings and misfits, she investigates a series of murders. Perhaps the most significant moment of the show was Ortega's dance which later went viral on TikTok.

The eight-part comedy-horror series Wednesday, which was shot in large parts in Romania, is only topped by one other Netflix production: the Korean nine-part Squid Game, which is listed under "TV (Non-English)".

The drama series from South Korea had 265.2 million views in 91 days (about 2.21 billion hours watched with a running time of 8 hours and 19 minutes). Until Tuesday, Netflix had only announced the figure of 1.65 billion streamed hours for Squid Game - just for the first 28 days.

Netflix says it has 233 million paying subscribers worldwide. Its biggest competitors include Disney+ and Amazon's Prime Video.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Pond5 & Picturelux

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