How to see the top Netflix series and films in South Africa (and around the world)

In a bid to make its viewing metrics more transparent, Netflix has launched a new website that lets users see the top 10 movies and films on the streaming platform each week — including South Africa.

This site differs from the Top 10 row users can see when on the Netflix app, since the new site allows to you sort according to different categories and countries.

It will also allow users to view the most popular series and films of all time on the platform. You can sort between English and non-English content.

“These weekly lists are in addition to the daily country Top 10 rows we introduced on Netflix last year, which will now also be based on hours viewed,” Pablo Perez De Rosso VP of Content Strategy, Planning & Analysis at Netflix said in a blog post.

“So whether you’re searching for Top 10 on Netflix or browsing directly on our service, it’s incredibly easy to see what other people are watching.”

What does Netflix base ‘popularity’ on?

The metrics used to rank content in the lists are based on total hours watched. While the company says that no metric is perfect, it said that engagement measured by hours viewed is “a strong indicator of a title’s popularity”.

However, it did acknowledge that this metric tends to favour content with longer episodes. After all, if viewers finish a season of 10 episodes with 20-minute installments, versus a series with the same number of episodes but 25-minute installments, the rankings would favour the series with longer episodes even if they had the same number of viewers.

Netflix says it will publish specialty lists on occasion to highlight popular content within specific categories to highlight content that will appear less prominently in the overall rankings.

On the topic of why the company doesn’t report how many viewers finish a series or film, the company said it favours viewing hours as a metric.

“We believe that whether you miss the end of one episode in a 10 hour series (a crying baby or Netflix and chill), or you don’t wait for the easter egg in the credits sequence, or you rewatch one scene multiple times rather than the whole film, all that viewing should be reflected in the popularity of the title,” Pablo Perez De Rosso said.

How to see the most popular Netflix movies and shows in South Africa

You can view the top Netflix movies and series on the new Netflix Top 10 website.

The landing page takes you to the top 10 English films globally. To switch to region-based lists, select the link that says “Or, see Top 10 lists by country”.

This will take you to the top 10 films for the United States. Select the dropdown list for United States and switch the country to South Africa.

This will take you to the page for the top 10 Netflix films in South Africa for the past week. These weekly lists are updated every Tuesday.

You can switch between films and series. Below the main slideshow of the top titles, you will find a text list of the top content, the weeks it has spent in the top 10, and the date range for the ranking.

If you want, you can also switch to previous weeks to see older rankings.

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Feature image: Netflix