The platforms newest ranking function counts quantity over quality.
Over the past month, Netflix rolled out a new “top ten” feature for all their subscribers allowing every country their unique daily lineup. Beta users in the UK were the first to see it on their screens in May of last year, and the response has brought the platform to boast its positivity worldwide.
In the February 24th blog post announcing the features arrival, Netflix said “the position of the row will vary depending on how relevant the shows and films are to you,” sliding presumptions that the feature will be a means to further personalize your streaming experience. I’ve looked at multiple accounts of those whose tastes vary greatly from my own, and the positioning is still the same: buried.
The top ten is rarely an immediate category on your Netflix dashboard. The ranking system is already hidden within the series thumbnails found in the initial spotlight series, your personal list, and both the generated popular and trending lists as a small red flag in the corner of a thumbnail. Even when you select an icon worthy of being flagged on these lists, it will mention in the description where it stands today. Only when you make it through the second spotlight and about five other lists of genres recommended for you (and the Netflix Originals insert, naturally) do you find the actual top ten list for your country.
In this digging, what you find certainly isn’t gold. CNBC suggests that the addition will help to solve the age old streaming problem of finding something to watch amidst all the repeatedly promoted content. I disagree.
The row for the past month has echoed the new releases and top Netflix Original suggestions already bombarding the recommended viewing lists at a moments notice. This top ten feature is just another way for Netflix to influence what you see in your spotlight and therefore what you watch. How can we turn away from Stranger Things when it remains the platforms country-wide spotlight show for a month and beyond while also singling its way into broader categories? How can you independently decide on the poor quality I Am Not Okay With This gives you every episode when it stands at number one across three countries for its initial release? How can we view the so called thousands of titles available when we’re urged to watch the same hundred thanks to lists that generate the same content.
CNBC got it all wrong: it’s not about giving you something to watch when you feel as though there is too much or nothing, it’s about turning you into a demographic number in an easier way. The top ten feature is another means of mess that urges the masses to the same shows. Ultimately no different from the so-called “recommended for you” and the “popular now”, Netflix’s top ten reminisces the functionality of Youtube in the viewer dependency that only furthers the same videos being viewed.
This circle, however, is exactly what the platform wants as new foes enter the streaming wars. With the top ten most watched and most talked about shows now listed in a “Netflix only” fashion, the feature manages to keep users logged on for longer rather than straying to other apps.
Perhaps I’m coming at this list with a bitter tongue since none of my top tens have yet to be featured. Perhaps I’ll warm up to it when a new season of American Vandal is released against its cancellation order and is praised at number one. Until then, be sure to subscribe to the blog to get the latest updates of complaints at a moments notice all from the comfort of your sinking couch.
THE SINKING COUCH 