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Wednesday Now Tops Stranger Things 4: Netflix Adjusts Viewing Metrics

Netflix's viewing data metric change sees Wednesday now replacing Stranger Things 4 as the most popular English-language series of all time.

In a move that's sure to spark some conversations, Netflix announced that it's making a major change in how it reports viewing data. Instead of just reporting weekly viewership in terms of hours used (though that data will still be available), the streamer's Top 10 rankings and its all-time Most Popular lists will now move forward with a "views" metric – meaning that what's being reported will be the hours viewed divide by the total runtime. In addition, Netflix has expanded the measurement window from 28 days (one month) to 91 days (three months) – with the hope that it would help give films & series time to grow (especially those without big IPs like Stranger Things to back them up). In addition, the adjustment will no longer heavily favor programming with longer run times (which tend to skew towards drama). And while you can find a full rundown on the changes here, we've already seen a major change: the Jenna Ortega-starring Wednesday has officially replaced the Duffer Brothers' Stranger Things 4 as the most popular English-language series of all time.

With the new metric in place, the fourth season of Stranger Things wasn't able to use its 13-hour runtime to its advantage (while Squid Game still remains the streamer's most popular series ever, even after the shift. But while titles such as The Watcher and The Queen's Gambit joined the revised list, Lucifer and Inventing Anna were out of the rankings.

That said, the method being utilized still doesn't eliminate one remaining imperfection – partial viewing being counted as complete viewing, resulting in a skewed number of unique views (while not taking into consideration the impact of multiple viewings). But in terms of being able to compare how well Netflix's content is doing across streaming & liner, the adjusted analysis puts the streamer more in line with general methodologies.

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