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They don’t want you to watch obscure shows, they want you to watch the top ones (in your region!) as they are preloaded into your cdn already.

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Right - but why would they assume I want to watch the "top" show? I've already paid for it and they benefit by having me browse and allowing myself to find that I like right? And what I like is not necessarily what they think others might me like - what one watches is highly variable (can change day to day, even time of the day) and influenced by so many factors that are personal.

Netflix is now a major player in the entertainment business, and I would guess there is a pay-to-play element behind the scenes as well as ROI on new productions, forcing them to jam these options down our throats.

User viewing preferences seem to be a secondary consideration.

> a pay-to-play element

I wonder about that too. Of course, the Netflix in-house productions will be getting extra promotion; but setting those aside, I fail to understand why Netflix promotes (e.g.) romcoms to me; I don't watch romcoms. I've never given Netflix any signal that I favour romcoms.

I can only suppose that some motivation other than giving subscribers what they want must be at the root of it.

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