TLDR: Very useful. It's true they didn't use the winning algorithm, because it was only a small improvement and they were already moving to streaming, where pre

TLDR: Very useful. It's true they didn't use the winning algorithm, because it was only a small improvement and they were already moving to streaming, where predicting consumption matters more than predicting ratings. However, they did put an earlier submission into production. Moreover, the competition was a powerful recruiting tool.