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Comment by gkoberger | Hacker News Reader

I think you're being harsh on Netflix. They have great stuff people have never heard of; advertising doesn't automatically mean it's crap.

When they first started, people came for The Office or Scrubs. Then they started creating their own, and every new show huge press. House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, etc. But as they add tons more content, they need more traditional ways to get people interested.

People have a "no ads!" stance and forget the way they got into most shows they like are ads. As they make more content themselves (as opposed to The Office or Arrested Development), they need more steady ways to get people interested.

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I think this comment is attempting to gaslight the issues the parent comment raises, which are valid and will take more than a trip down memory lane to resolve.

I'm not gaslighting anything, I'm simply disagreeing. I dislike ads too, but the answer isn't that "Netflix should spend a ton of money on content, and then hide it away unless someone explicitly looks for it." There's gotta be a happy medium, and for better or for worse, ads work.

If Netflix makes bad content, then I'll be mad they're forcing it on me. But if they make good content, in the long run I'll be happy they're experimenting with as-non-evasive-as-possible ways to get me interested.

To put it another way: it's better if they get more people hooked on more shows and that leads to more subscriptions, rather than them having to resort to crappy third party ads to afford new content.

Here’s a thought... they could let users rate shows, maybe on some 1-5 based scale, then use that information to power recommendations targeted at those users instead of just randomly promoting their disgusting flavors of the day? Then instead of shows dying in obscurity people who would most enjoy them could see them! As a bonus a guy who likes documentaries and dramas wouldn’t have to scroll through children’s cartoons being recommended to him?

Nah, that would never work...

They found that ratings weren't working. They've spent a LOT of money on this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize ); they wouldn't ditch it without reason.

What they're doing is literally what you're saying: targeted recommendations of their shows. They're just doing it in the format of a video rather than, say, a still image.

This is just my experience but I found the previous system far better. I discovered a surprising number of new shows that I liked under that one, shows that I might not have found through other means. In contrast, the new system has been utterly useless and I have learned to completely ignore the percentage scores. The scores are really out of whack with what I like and leaving feedback hasn't improved the matching in any noticeable way.

Unless "ratings weren't working" means "ratings caused customers to decline to watch content they knew in advance they wouldn't like". Which, from the customer's point of view, means "worked very well."

Ratings worked for the DVDs because they had a massive catalog of high quality material. The streaming stuff is mostly basic cable grade dreck.

What sucks about Netflix app is I can't see IMDB ratings. I'm tired of them promoting 3-5.5/10 crap when I'll only watch decent content 7-8+.

They already "suggest" series and movies prominently in their apps. Now, they're going to shove fucking ads down your throat like a damn TV blairing CNN at the laundromat.

Calling it gaslighting is uncharitable and dismissive. The Overton Window here seems to be generally around "big companies" and "ads" always being bad.

In this case advertising other Netflix shows seems reasonable. It's common practice on most content platforms. I agree it's annoying and I'd rather not have it.

If they always maintain a switch to turn it off, then this is neutral at its worst. I flipped the switch to not have tests conducted on my account, but if this stops being a test then I want to flip this crap off too.

That said, I like it when services play the next episode immediately after the one I just watched. I can just let it continue to progress and stop it anytime I want. I certainly don't want that interrupted by advertisements, whether for in-house Netflix shows or some other crap, it is still just advertisements and part of the reason I pay Netflix at all is because it doesn't have ads, and am willing and able to cancel my account if they turn into Hulu.

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