Netflix has been testing a new system to rate content from their streaming catalog, and after positive results, they’ve made a change.
Instead of allowing users to assign movies and television shows a rating of 1 through 5 stars, they will be prompted with a thumbs up or a thumbs down to indicate that they enjoyed or did not enjoy it, respectively. The beta testing on the new ratings was conducted in 2016 with “hundreds of thousands” of users.
Todd Yellin, the media company’s Vice President of Product told Variety and other journalists at a press briefing in Netflix headquarters on Thursday that the decision implement the change was made to improve user experience and introduction to new content that viewer may enjoy. Reportedly, the beta testing pushed the company to implement the change as user-submitted ratings increased by 200% under the new system.
He described the move as making it simpler for users to tell Netflix what they’ve enjoyed and would like to see more of, since users are more likely to give a higher star rating to an award-worthy movie or show based on its quality, rather than a slapstick comedy which they would rather watch, according to Yellin. The thumbs up rating is meant to act as a yes or no for users, instead of giving them control over how much they like something through the use of 5 options.
An algorithm will also display a percentage next to the streaming content, estimating how likely someone may enjoy that TV show or movie based on what you have watched or given a thumbs up to previously.
numeed 