How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?

Re:How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix? by jareklupinski on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @09:34AM (#27760937)

> The new frontier is that they use your engagement data not just to "suggest" the next movie but to design movies that will keep you engaged.

Personally, the opposite has been happening in my recommendations. I've been switching over to Netflix less and less as its library thins, and the replacements seem not as compelling... can't even remember the last time I watched a full movie or TV show season on Netflix.

Guess I'm not the target demographic :( but it's not like I personally pay 'the Netflix bill' anyway.

Toddlers seems to enjoy the procedurally generated content though; maybe they're mistaking toddlers randomly bashing their screen for audience engagement?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix? by PaulHoule on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @10:19AM (#27761403)

"Appealing to narcissism" is dead easy on one level (avoids all sorts of problems that you could encounter with people otherwise), and very hard on another level.

If you are always "present" and engaged then the target is going to do most of the work themselves. If "the lights are on and nobody is home" when you try to take a step forward, you really take 10 steps back.

[ Parent | on HN ]