What Netflix's patents reveal about the future of watching movies

https://stephenfollows.com/p/what-netflixs-patents-reveal

11 10 1 year ago

anonzzzies2• 1 year ago

I am still 'impressed' with recommendation engines and how much time, money etc is spent on them. In all the years using Netflix, prime video, YouTube, apple TV+ etc, I have never had 1 recommendation I like. These companies all know for years, sometimes decades, what I like (horror sci-fi) and, also important, what I dislike/hate/never watch (romantic comedies): the recommendations I get are shows or movies I would not watch if you paid me and are not even remotely connected to what I viewed in the past. The only time it gets it right is recommending something I just saw on that same platform, usually less than 24 hours ago. I could not make a worse recommendation engine if I tried than any of those, but I guess somehow they make money recommending stuff I will never click on? And no, my accounts are not shared with anyone, it's just me watching them. I click like/not like duty fully, and yet...

treetalker• 1 year ago

Ultimately recommended for their benefit, not ours.

bdangubic• 1 year ago

this is the most obviuos thing no one seems to understand, the recommendation engine is for them, not you. and the argument of “they must keep you watching to make you watching…” is the silliest argument, people will fucking watch, what else they gonna do, read a book?? :)

whatevaa• 1 year ago

I don't rely on youtube recommendations (mostly on subscriptions to my favorite channels), but sometimes youtube offers me something new and interesting. How else could you discover something you don't know exists? No, I'm not going to "ask around".

WarOnPrivacy• 1 year ago

I subscribe to streaming services but they no longer have my viewing data. Discovery got increasingly awful and I moved my viewing to pirate sites.

timeonecom• 1 year ago

The Netflix recommendation engine probably only works for people that watch a lot of Netflix. For me it’s practically useless at guessing why I watch something and can’t differentiate between skips because something is boring or because I’ve watched it earlier on another account.

A much better, easier way to expose new content is the traditional way: send people on talk shows like Colbert and have them talk about the new shows. Netflix should do their own late night show on the service.

DrNosferatu• 1 year ago

The future will be generative, personalized, tailored-to-each-costumer content.

Just wait and see.

yupitsme123• 1 year ago

That's what I hear but I think this is going to be like fully self-driving cars. It's going to be just around the corner for a while, then all of the sudden it's going to be 20 years away.

1317• 1 year ago

paywalled

What Netflix's patents reveal about the future of watching movies

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