4 ms·

I suspect the Netflix recommendations system would be excellent if they had a catalog to back it. But the Netflix catalog is of such poor quality that even a pe

by mvdtnz 3y ago

I suspect the Netflix recommendations system would be excellent if they had a catalog to back it. But the Netflix catalog is of such poor quality that even a perfect recommendation system ends up recommending garbage because it's all they have.

zoover2020 3y ago
Isn't their algorithm also very intendedly only catering to Netflix originals by default? I find its algo absolutely rubbish and most of my initial excitement to go watch something with my wife on the couch instantly fades as soon as we face the doomscrolling of finding content to watch. It's like zapping but worse
- onli 3y ago
  For me it's the missing quality markers. Netflix provides no way at all to see whether a show or movie is good. So when one starts scrolling and does not find immediately something one likes, there is no reason to ever find anything good - because nothing seems good, and all alike. Since I added a userscript to see IMDB ratings directly next to the netflix shows it's way easier to find something promising.
cortesoft 3y ago
I always hear people say this about the Netflix catalog, but I never understand what metric or criteria people are using. I find there is a ton of great content on Netflix, and I have way more things I want to watch on there than time to watch it. I always wonder if people who say this either have very particular interests, or are trying to find specific tv shows/movies and not finding them on Netflix. If you are not set on a particular thing, it seems to me that there is a ton of great content.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  I think many people want to watch what their friends are watching (so they can talk about it at work/school tomorrow). That means if their friends are watching stuff on Amazon Prime, then netflix can never meet their needs.
- wharvle 3y ago
  I have really broad interests in film—it blows my mind when people complain that not enough good or original films come out in a given year, I can't even make it through half the probably-good ones each year, I don't know what they're looking at or what their tastes must be like to come to that conclusion—but definitely find Netflix's catalog to be notably weak compared to Hulu or (HBO)Max, and it's been that way for years. I'd class it with second-tier services like Paramount, but from what I've seen on there lately, even that may be better. It's got Apple TV beat, I guess, but I wouldn't call that a major streaming service. [EDIT] Oh and I'd say it's overall worse than D+, for that matter, even though that's basically an umbrella for a few niche services. Like if I could only have one of those two, I'd take D+. And D+ kinda sucks.
  - chuckadams 3y ago
    The way Max is going, it's going to make Netflix look like the Criterion Collection in a few years.
    - wharvle 3y ago
      Oh, I know. Matter of time before I drop that one. They've inexplicably decided to destroy their own streaming service, on purpose.
    - hedora 3y ago
      That's especially true since I've noticed stuff max yanked has popped up on netflix. If netflix wants to lean in even further, they should pick up rights to produce additional seasons of most of the stuff Warner Brothers Discovery cancelled last year (they're the parent company of HBO and have subpar management, even by Hollywood exec standards).
  - echelon 3y ago
    > it blows my mind when people complain that not enough good or original films come out in a given year I have a weird take on this. Before I started working on my startup, I had a lot of time to watch and even make movies. I typically would watch about ~50-100 films a year. When I was younger, it was even more. I was voracious. I tend to like indie and art house films, but I'll also enjoy popular fare. I'm not a snob. As long as the choices of the writers, directors, actors, and editors make sense, I'm typically able to assign a rating and slot the film into some kind of tier list. But I'm always left unsated by the decision envelope. The film will make its choices, but I always find myself wanting to go in other directions. Sometimes wildly different ones. I feel more like an active participant, critic, or perhaps even script doctor or producer. When the story beats of a film change, my imagination keeps predicting outcomes along various trajectories. Sometimes I'm a perfect predictor. In these instances, films tend to be full of lazy tropes and are completely unsatisfying. Other times, my predictor is way off. If the dissonance is huge, sometimes I'm also left upset by the departure from expectations. It depends on whether the rest of the work makes sense as a whole. I can't turn this off. It's always running. I only see a handful of films a decade that will sit with me for days or weeks. The themes rhyme and have an ethereal logic that transcends me. These are the films that play my predictor like an instrument. Their choices are better than mine. Surprisingly and delightfully so. They reach my soul and change who I am as a person. These are films that I wouldn't change in the slightest. That I wish I could forget and watch again, and again, and again with fresh eyes. I enjoy film, but I can't stop my overactive analysis. As I've gotten older, this attitude has only deepened. It makes it hard to call watching film entirely passive or enjoyable. I enjoy the activity, but not always the film. The feelings are fleeting, and I'm left wanting for more. Except occasionally. And I cherish those.
- chucksmash 3y ago
  Different strokes for different folks. I don't stream a lot. Every few months I'll just want to zonk out for a while though. The past few times I've wanted to watch "nothing in particular" it's gone something like: 1. Sit down, open Netflix. 2. Scroll through all the categories and suggestions on the home screen, finding nothing interesting. 3. Search for a few things I thought of while scrolling. Search returns things I can watch instead since what I searched for isn't on Netflix. 3. Open Prime Video, see something I'm interested in suggested pretty quickly, pay $ to rent or buy.
  - WhyOhWhyQ 3y ago
    I second this. I also experience this with Youtube. If Youtube monetized the part where you're scrolling looking for a video they would 10x their ad revenue.
    - NavinF 3y ago
      That used to my experience many years ago before I started using the "not interested" button aggressively. Now every video on my YouTube front page is 10/10
- gryn 3y ago
  depends on which country you live in, and what you've already watched so far. I'm not one of the people complaining, but I've definitely seen my self scrolling a lot with Netflix recommending I re-watch a lot of the stuff I liked before only to end up giving up and switching to something else.
consumer451 3y ago
This raises an interesting point. Streaming has become so fragmented that I wonder if there enough space for a "$1M algorithm" which spans across all of the streaming platforms. I am not sure how that data would be gathered, maybe via an intermediary player like Plex, Roku, Android TV, etc..?
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
  Not remotely viable.
  - consumer451 3y ago
    For my own education, may I ask why?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
eddd-ddde 3y ago
The best recommendation algorithm they could provide is the one that recommends cancelling your subscription.

by mvdtnz 3y ago

zoover2020 3y ago

Isn't their algorithm also very intendedly only catering to Netflix originals by default? I find its algo absolutely rubbish and most of my initial excitement to go watch something with my wife on the couch instantly fades as soon as we face the doomscrolling of finding content to watch. It's like zapping but worse

onli 3y ago
For me it's the missing quality markers. Netflix provides no way at all to see whether a show or movie is good. So when one starts scrolling and does not find immediately something one likes, there is no reason to ever find anything good - because nothing seems good, and all alike. Since I added a userscript to see IMDB ratings directly next to the netflix shows it's way easier to find something promising.

cortesoft 3y ago

I always hear people say this about the Netflix catalog, but I never understand what metric or criteria people are using. I find there is a ton of great content on Netflix, and I have way more things I want to watch on there than time to watch it. I always wonder if people who say this either have very particular interests, or are trying to find specific tv shows/movies and not finding them on Netflix. If you are not set on a particular thing, it seems to me that there is a ton of great content.

londons_explore 3y ago
I think many people want to watch what their friends are watching (so they can talk about it at work/school tomorrow). That means if their friends are watching stuff on Amazon Prime, then netflix can never meet their needs.
wharvle 3y ago
I have really broad interests in film—it blows my mind when people complain that not enough good or original films come out in a given year, I can't even make it through half the probably-good ones each year, I don't know what they're looking at or what their tastes must be like to come to that conclusion—but definitely find Netflix's catalog to be notably weak compared to Hulu or (HBO)Max, and it's been that way for years. I'd class it with second-tier services like Paramount, but from what I've seen on there lately, even that may be better. It's got Apple TV beat, I guess, but I wouldn't call that a major streaming service. [EDIT] Oh and I'd say it's overall worse than D+, for that matter, even though that's basically an umbrella for a few niche services. Like if I could only have one of those two, I'd take D+. And D+ kinda sucks.
- chuckadams 3y ago
  The way Max is going, it's going to make Netflix look like the Criterion Collection in a few years.
  - wharvle 3y ago
    Oh, I know. Matter of time before I drop that one. They've inexplicably decided to destroy their own streaming service, on purpose.
  - hedora 3y ago
    That's especially true since I've noticed stuff max yanked has popped up on netflix. If netflix wants to lean in even further, they should pick up rights to produce additional seasons of most of the stuff Warner Brothers Discovery cancelled last year (they're the parent company of HBO and have subpar management, even by Hollywood exec standards).
- echelon 3y ago
  > it blows my mind when people complain that not enough good or original films come out in a given year I have a weird take on this. Before I started working on my startup, I had a lot of time to watch and even make movies. I typically would watch about ~50-100 films a year. When I was younger, it was even more. I was voracious. I tend to like indie and art house films, but I'll also enjoy popular fare. I'm not a snob. As long as the choices of the writers, directors, actors, and editors make sense, I'm typically able to assign a rating and slot the film into some kind of tier list. But I'm always left unsated by the decision envelope. The film will make its choices, but I always find myself wanting to go in other directions. Sometimes wildly different ones. I feel more like an active participant, critic, or perhaps even script doctor or producer. When the story beats of a film change, my imagination keeps predicting outcomes along various trajectories. Sometimes I'm a perfect predictor. In these instances, films tend to be full of lazy tropes and are completely unsatisfying. Other times, my predictor is way off. If the dissonance is huge, sometimes I'm also left upset by the departure from expectations. It depends on whether the rest of the work makes sense as a whole. I can't turn this off. It's always running. I only see a handful of films a decade that will sit with me for days or weeks. The themes rhyme and have an ethereal logic that transcends me. These are the films that play my predictor like an instrument. Their choices are better than mine. Surprisingly and delightfully so. They reach my soul and change who I am as a person. These are films that I wouldn't change in the slightest. That I wish I could forget and watch again, and again, and again with fresh eyes. I enjoy film, but I can't stop my overactive analysis. As I've gotten older, this attitude has only deepened. It makes it hard to call watching film entirely passive or enjoyable. I enjoy the activity, but not always the film. The feelings are fleeting, and I'm left wanting for more. Except occasionally. And I cherish those.
chucksmash 3y ago
Different strokes for different folks. I don't stream a lot. Every few months I'll just want to zonk out for a while though. The past few times I've wanted to watch "nothing in particular" it's gone something like: 1. Sit down, open Netflix. 2. Scroll through all the categories and suggestions on the home screen, finding nothing interesting. 3. Search for a few things I thought of while scrolling. Search returns things I can watch instead since what I searched for isn't on Netflix. 3. Open Prime Video, see something I'm interested in suggested pretty quickly, pay $ to rent or buy.
- WhyOhWhyQ 3y ago
  I second this. I also experience this with Youtube. If Youtube monetized the part where you're scrolling looking for a video they would 10x their ad revenue.
  - NavinF 3y ago
    That used to my experience many years ago before I started using the "not interested" button aggressively. Now every video on my YouTube front page is 10/10
gryn 3y ago
depends on which country you live in, and what you've already watched so far. I'm not one of the people complaining, but I've definitely seen my self scrolling a lot with Netflix recommending I re-watch a lot of the stuff I liked before only to end up giving up and switching to something else.

consumer451 3y ago

This raises an interesting point. Streaming has become so fragmented that I wonder if there enough space for a "$1M algorithm" which spans across all of the streaming platforms. I am not sure how that data would be gathered, maybe via an intermediary player like Plex, Roku, Android TV, etc..?

cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
Not remotely viable.
- consumer451 3y ago
  For my own education, may I ask why?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

eddd-ddde 3y ago

The best recommendation algorithm they could provide is the one that recommends cancelling your subscription.