This article examines how Internet Movie Database (IMDb) operates as a contemporary site of cultural legitimation by analysing its top 1000 highest-rated television episodes between 1975 and 2022. Rather than interpreting ratings as neutral reflections of quality, the study conceptualizes them as outcomes shaped by platform architecture, user participation and evaluative conventions. The findings reveal genre-based asymmetries in recognition, including drama’s dominance in representation alongside comedy’s stronger average performance, as well as the sustained visibility and consistency of animated series, particularly Japanese anime. The concentration of highly rated episodes in the streaming era further underscores the relationship between industrial transformation and audience-driven evaluation. Interpreted through cultural legitimation theory, the results demonstrate how participatory rating systems organize prestige, visibility and cultural hierarchy in digital media environments. The study contributes to debates on platform governance and digital cultural value by showing how audience metrics restructure definitions of television excellence.
Altındağ et al. (Sun,) studied this question.