Netflix UK’s best feature is finally rolling out to binge-watchers worldwide

NETFLIX subscribers across the globe will now be able to track the most popular shows and movies on the video on-demand service. Here's everything you need to know about the new way to watch.

By Aaron Brown, Express Affiliate Development Editor with 10 years of experience writing about the latest developments in consumer technology, product reviews, and buying advice

Netflix Streaming Choice

Netflix users across the globe will be treated to the same feature UK viewers already enjoy (Image: GETTY • NETFLIX)

Netflix is bringing Top 10 rankings to binge-viewers worldwide. The feature, which has been trialled in the UK and Mexico over the last six months, will reveal the most popular shows and movies in your country at any time.

“Members in both countries have found them useful, so we are now rolling them out to even more,” Cameron Johnson, Netflix Director of Product Innovation, said about the tests in UK and Mexico in a blog post about the expansion of the feature.

The Top 10 lists will appear as a numbered row on the homepage. The position of this ranking will vary between subscribers, based on how much Netflix's all-important algorithms believe it the shows featured in the charts will appeal to you. So, if the ranking is buried on your Netflix, it's only because your tastes don't align with everyone else on the streaming service.

Top 10 Movies and Top 10 Shows lists will now surface in each of Netflix's categories. This will let you find the most popular content in each genre as you search around the vast library of shows and films available on Netflix.

Outside of the ranking itself, shows that appear in the charts will get a special Top 10 badge that appears on their preview card across the Netflix app or site. So even if you don't check the rundown of the most popular shows, you'll be able to get a rough idea of what everyone else is bingeing at the moment.

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Netflix Streaming Rank UK

The Top 10 badge, TOP, and the ranking as it will appear worldwide, BOTTOM (Image: NETFLIX)

Like most new Netflix features, the update will be staggered worldwide, so don't panic if you don't immediately see the Top 10 appear in your app.

Top 10 is the latest in a round of attempts by Netflix to boost streaming usage with new ways to discover content beyond its typical algorithmic recommendations, or search function. Netflix already has dedicated rows to categories like “Popular on Netflix” and “Trending Now.”

As for how the popularity of the shows is calculated, Netflix is using a new viewership methodology that involves tallying the number of subscriber accounts that watched any title for at least two minutes during the last 24 hours. While it's possible that each one of those members continued to watch until the end of the episode or season ...speaking from past experience, we've definitely tuned into shows or movies on Netflix that we've turned off after five minutes and most certainly wouldn't count as having watched.

"This is similar to how the BBC calculates its iPlayer ‘most requested’ feature and does not discriminate against longer titles,” Netflix defended its new calculation in a recent letter to shareholders.

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