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Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushi

Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushing algorithmic "recommendations". Their genre categorizations are a joke too. Really, the only thing that their search (at least on the Roku) seems to work for is Titles. Would it be too much to ask to be able to search against director, cast, language, actors, date?

jscheel 8y ago
One plausible, if slightly paranoid, explanation I read was that Netflix is trying to intentionally obscure the size of their library and the deficits in it. This would be especially relevant to OP's story about rising exclusivity.
- RodericDay 8y ago
  this is obviously, trivially the reason why
- touristtam 8y ago
  It isn't paranoid: it obvious when you realize their licensed catalogue is continuously rotating,
barrkel 8y ago
Netflix is a hostile user application due to perverse incentives. They see engagement as a proxy for stickiness, and similarly lack of engagement as a leading indicator of churn. So they implement features that look like they increase engagement, like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series. I don't know about other people, but they absolutely infuriate me. We normally mute Netflix on entry into the app because we know that it's going to start blaring out of the speakers as the menu is navigated. And even the menu can't be navigated in peace: I need to keep hopping between adjacent shows to stop it trying to auto-play in the background with distracting images. If I want to leave the remote idle, I need to exit the app or find somewhere for focus to rest where it's not going to start playing something. It's just one or two more "engagement" steps away from getting cancelled.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  > like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series The only one I'm cool with is auto-play of the next episode after I finish one, and even then it's iffy. Seriously though Netflix, I'm reading the movies description, why would I also want to see the studio logos and listening to the opening music? I can't even stop it as I'm not actually watching the movie.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    > The only one I'm cool with is auto-play of the next episode after I finish one I actually loathe this. I like endings. After the episode wraps up and the credits finish scrolling, I want everything to naturally stop so I have a few seconds to sit and process and contemplate. You can technically turn off autoplay next episode, but the video will still go into a tiny window as soon as the credits start rolling, with a big ad encouraging you to watch the next episode. That's not how I want to consume content.
    - Angostura 8y ago
      It's particularly irritating if you have kids and you're going to watch one episode of something before bed. Just have to be ready with the 'TV off' button to avoid discussions regarding watching the next episode.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      Yeah, that's an entirely personal call for me - I enjoy being able to continue the binge, but I totally see your reasoning.
    - barrkel 8y ago
      Yes. Usually I try and press Pause to get it to turn off the credits music, but because of focus it accidentally starts the next episode instead, and I need to scramble to avoid it. Even if you've turned off play next episode, it will still auto-play the first episode in a different series after you've finished the last episode in a series.
shubhamjain 8y ago
> Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushing algorithmic "recommendations". The reason seems obvious to me. They want to mask their lack of content. It always seems that Netflix is trying to discourage search. I guess that's because there's a good chance whatever movie/tv show you're trying to search for won't be available. Netflix only has 35 movies out of IMDb Top 250 [1]. Pretty sure the number is even less for other countries. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9gksft/netflix_only_has_35_movies_from_the_imdb_top_250/ https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9gksft/netflix_only...
- Humdeee 8y ago
  I haven't realized it until your comment. Most of my searches end up without the result I'm looking for. If I do find what I'm looking for, I'm quite surprised.
  - saddestcatever 8y ago
    True. Most of Netflix's "Search Experience" ends in disappointment. No wonder they want to hide that feature.
- ahje 8y ago
  I was considering to sub to Netflix. This thread changed my mind. Thanks!
  - sliken 8y ago
    I agree with the complaints. Netflix UI is terrible, but it's the least terrible of any of the streaming services I've tried. Hulu, Hulu+, hbo, and amazon prime aren't nearly as nice, at least for me. If looking for something to connect to a TV, I recommend a roku. They are the Switzerland of streaming, wife/kid friendly UI, and don't compete. The rest of the streaming world is pretty conflicted. Sony/Microsoft, Apple vs world, Netflix vs world, etc. Not only are there more channels for roku than anything else I've seen, the implementation of the client seems noticeably better. In particular the netflix UI on various other platforms like various smart TVs is pretty terrible.
andrewla 8y ago
That they favor recommendations over search is bad, but in some ways worse is how they hide the "saved" content -- if you add something to your watchlist, it's usually not even on the first screen; that's something that I literally said that I want to save for watching later, and instead I have to go through page after page of recommendations before I can even see my watchlist, instead of it being front and center. They seem to have elevated the prominence of the "continue watching" so that it's in the top three bars shown, but even that fact is ridiculous -- the obvious order should be "continue watching", "watchlist", and then start in with the recommendations. I have no idea why they make it so hard for me to watch things that I've declared an intention to watch. Why even have a watchlist in that case? Is it just a holdover from a previous design that they are no longer really interested in supporting?
- droopyEyelids 8y ago
  Maybe the idea here is like putting the milk at the back of the grocery store. (put the staples at the end of a maze of other things to buy)
- ajmurmann 8y ago
  I can see that this might be because watchlists often times contain "ambitious" things we want to watch. When they still had DVDs my watchlist was full of stuff like the 3hr Andrey Rublev movie that I always wanted to watch, but only in the future, not now.
dogma1138 8y ago
It’s even worse with Prime as it’s getting harder and harder to find what is free and what isn’t as Amazon decided that it’s a good idea to intermingle pay per view/rental, buy to own and subscription based content.
- sliken 8y ago
  I noticed that Amazon prime often only claims season one is included in amazon prime. Last thing I want to do is get hooked on a series that I have to pay for. Classic bait and switch... no thanks.

jscheel 8y ago

One plausible, if slightly paranoid, explanation I read was that Netflix is trying to intentionally obscure the size of their library and the deficits in it. This would be especially relevant to OP's story about rising exclusivity.

RodericDay 8y ago
this is obviously, trivially the reason why
touristtam 8y ago
It isn't paranoid: it obvious when you realize their licensed catalogue is continuously rotating,

barrkel 8y ago

Netflix is a hostile user application due to perverse incentives. They see engagement as a proxy for stickiness, and similarly lack of engagement as a leading indicator of churn. So they implement features that look like they increase engagement, like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series. I don't know about other people, but they absolutely infuriate me. We normally mute Netflix on entry into the app because we know that it's going to start blaring out of the speakers as the menu is navigated. And even the menu can't be navigated in peace: I need to keep hopping between adjacent shows to stop it trying to auto-play in the background with distracting images. If I want to leave the remote idle, I need to exit the app or find somewhere for focus to rest where it's not going to start playing something. It's just one or two more "engagement" steps away from getting cancelled.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
> like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series The only one I'm cool with is auto-play of the next episode after I finish one, and even then it's iffy. Seriously though Netflix, I'm reading the movies description, why would I also want to see the studio logos and listening to the opening music? I can't even stop it as I'm not actually watching the movie.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  > The only one I'm cool with is auto-play of the next episode after I finish one I actually loathe this. I like endings. After the episode wraps up and the credits finish scrolling, I want everything to naturally stop so I have a few seconds to sit and process and contemplate. You can technically turn off autoplay next episode, but the video will still go into a tiny window as soon as the credits start rolling, with a big ad encouraging you to watch the next episode. That's not how I want to consume content.
  - Angostura 8y ago
    It's particularly irritating if you have kids and you're going to watch one episode of something before bed. Just have to be ready with the 'TV off' button to avoid discussions regarding watching the next episode.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    Yeah, that's an entirely personal call for me - I enjoy being able to continue the binge, but I totally see your reasoning.
  - barrkel 8y ago
    Yes. Usually I try and press Pause to get it to turn off the credits music, but because of focus it accidentally starts the next episode instead, and I need to scramble to avoid it. Even if you've turned off play next episode, it will still auto-play the first episode in a different series after you've finished the last episode in a series.

shubhamjain 8y ago

> Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushing algorithmic "recommendations". The reason seems obvious to me. They want to mask their lack of content. It always seems that Netflix is trying to discourage search. I guess that's because there's a good chance whatever movie/tv show you're trying to search for won't be available. Netflix only has 35 movies out of IMDb Top 250 [1]. Pretty sure the number is even less for other countries. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9gksft/netflix_only_has_35_movies_from_the_imdb_top_250/ https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9gksft/netflix_only...

Humdeee 8y ago
I haven't realized it until your comment. Most of my searches end up without the result I'm looking for. If I do find what I'm looking for, I'm quite surprised.
- saddestcatever 8y ago
  True. Most of Netflix's "Search Experience" ends in disappointment. No wonder they want to hide that feature.
ahje 8y ago
I was considering to sub to Netflix. This thread changed my mind. Thanks!
- sliken 8y ago
  I agree with the complaints. Netflix UI is terrible, but it's the least terrible of any of the streaming services I've tried. Hulu, Hulu+, hbo, and amazon prime aren't nearly as nice, at least for me. If looking for something to connect to a TV, I recommend a roku. They are the Switzerland of streaming, wife/kid friendly UI, and don't compete. The rest of the streaming world is pretty conflicted. Sony/Microsoft, Apple vs world, Netflix vs world, etc. Not only are there more channels for roku than anything else I've seen, the implementation of the client seems noticeably better. In particular the netflix UI on various other platforms like various smart TVs is pretty terrible.

andrewla 8y ago

That they favor recommendations over search is bad, but in some ways worse is how they hide the "saved" content -- if you add something to your watchlist, it's usually not even on the first screen; that's something that I literally said that I want to save for watching later, and instead I have to go through page after page of recommendations before I can even see my watchlist, instead of it being front and center. They seem to have elevated the prominence of the "continue watching" so that it's in the top three bars shown, but even that fact is ridiculous -- the obvious order should be "continue watching", "watchlist", and then start in with the recommendations. I have no idea why they make it so hard for me to watch things that I've declared an intention to watch. Why even have a watchlist in that case? Is it just a holdover from a previous design that they are no longer really interested in supporting?

droopyEyelids 8y ago
Maybe the idea here is like putting the milk at the back of the grocery store. (put the staples at the end of a maze of other things to buy)
ajmurmann 8y ago
I can see that this might be because watchlists often times contain "ambitious" things we want to watch. When they still had DVDs my watchlist was full of stuff like the 3hr Andrey Rublev movie that I always wanted to watch, but only in the future, not now.

dogma1138 8y ago

It’s even worse with Prime as it’s getting harder and harder to find what is free and what isn’t as Amazon decided that it’s a good idea to intermingle pay per view/rental, buy to own and subscription based content.

sliken 8y ago
I noticed that Amazon prime often only claims season one is included in amazon prime. Last thing I want to do is get hooked on a series that I have to pay for. Classic bait and switch... no thanks.