I think that's a good point, and a weakness in my comment. I know everyone's watching habits differ, but I said "to a large extent they control what people watch" and then offered an anecdote to support it.
I doubt anyone outside Netflix knows what percentage browse the homepage, pick from their queue, or search for the video they end up watching. I do think it's safe to assume browsing is a popular choice, but it's not clear it's the dominant one. I'm basing this off the real-estate devoted to browsing on the home page. I think the UI would look different otherwise.
I also don't think "control" is the right word to have used, probably "strongly influence".
FWIW, my usage is quite different. I do browse the popular/recommended/etc., but only to add things to my list. When I want to watch something I usually select it from "my list".