• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 2, 2020

Netflix has released a most “popular” list of its original TV shows and movies for 2019, with the film "Murder Mystery," starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler earning the top result.

What does “popularity” mean in this context? Beats us.

Netflix offered virtually no data in backing this up -- only this factoid in determining its list: The number of people watching at least two minutes of its content, viewed in its first 28 days of release.

Here is more detail -- somewhat adding to the confusion. Earlier this year, Netflix said 73 million households viewed “Murder Mystery,” meaning those who have watched more than 70% of the movie in its first four weeks. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a weak 45% score from its compilation of critic reviews.

This month, Netflix said “The Irishman” tallied 26.4 million households that have watched more than 70% of the three-and-a half-hour film to date.

By way of comparison, Nielsen says “The Irishman” in its first five days of availability, posted an average minute audience of nearly 13.2 million viewers. Rotten Tomatoes' score was a positive 96% number.

What about other shows we know grabbed higher viewership, such as the non-original Netflix content it licenses: “The Office” and “Friends”? They weren’t on the list.

Still, other third-party metrics throughout the year have said those two shows, owned by NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, respectively, are far and away, the most popular content on Netflix.

Other top popular original TV/movies on Netflix’s list are the long-running TV series “Stranger Things 3,” the movie “6 Underground” and the newer TV series “The Witcher” and “The Umbrella Academy.”

Releasing such data -- scant as it is -- is key for the big streaming platform. It can be a major component for consumer marketing, as well as a draw for top TV and movie producers. 

Overall, Netflix shies away from offering up much viewer data, reasoning it isn’t an advertising platform.

But going forward, Netflix may find other ways of incorporating marketers' stuff into its TV shows and moves, such as product placement and branded-marketing efforts. For those deals, it will need to show — as much as possible — who is watching, perhaps when, where and for how long.

In this digital age, where video viewing/user data can be confusing and fractionalizing, it seems a sound practice to highlight value to all interested parties.

As new competitors hover around Netflix, a slow dip of information from the big streaming platform might open up to a more steady stream. Little mystery here.