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Comment by friedman23 | Hacker News Reader

Netflix's problem is that the people in charge have 0 taste. The best / most popular content on netflix is made by auteurs (Stranger things) or is created by other studios (Squid game, etc). You can't make television using these data scientists and ml models. You need to have actual taste. You need to understand what separates a good story from a bad one. You can't just throw money at the problem either.

Just go to HBO to see the antithesis of netflix's model. It's possible to consistently put out quality, you need the right people involved. You can expect that to die soon btw since the suits at Warner fired the head of that company.

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I've ranted at length about Netflix and how insanely useless their data analytics are. I quit Netflix earlier this year. It was obvious to me Netflix would falter when they started using that "Top 10" leaderboard as their primary recommendation engine. It was a tacit admission that they, having all the money, talent, and 20+ years of detailed subscriber data (that every studio would kill for) couldn't figure out how to use that data. I would not be surprised if Netflix pops the data analytics/ML bubble. The curtain has been pulled back and the wizard has been revealed to be nothing more than a simple list of the most watched shows.

> you need the right people involved

Even then it's tough. The Mandalorian was great. Then The Book of Boba Fett came out and was not only a disaster, but also made the entire two seasons of The Mandalorian pointless. Similar to season 8 of Game of Thrones killing the entire show, because who can recommend a show that sets up the central expectation in season one that is so horribly resolved in the very last season. It's now a show I'd recommend to my enemy rather than my friend. TV is tough. And I don't think streaming is kind to shows that don't nail every season. This is content that is part of a catalog. It's not something on NBC on a Thursday night. Syndication isn't just a nice windfall. It's the entire point now.

I have always found the vast majority of recommendation engines to be completely underwhelming. There is one exception: Spotify. It doesn't seem to work for everybody, but personally, I get insanely good recommendations from Spotify to the point that it has become my main way of discovering new music (and discovering new music is very important to me).

What is the difference? On the surface, it doesn't seem like music recommendation should be a very different problem from movie recommendation.

Unrelated to this: I find the comparison between Netflix and Spotify interesting in general. Why do I get (pretty much) all the music there is on Spotify, but I cannot subscribe to a movie / tv streaming service that lets me access all the content for a flat fee? As a consumer, I would much rather have the choice between three well polished streaming platforms that all offer the same content compared to the current situation where you have a fractured catalogue on platforms of wildly varying technical quality (looking at you, Amazon..).

Spotify’s recommendation engine is magical. I have discovered so many podcasts and music by it’s recommendation engine. I believe the difference between Spotify and Netflix is Spotify has access to “unlimited” quality content it doesn’t produce (music and podcasts).

Right. I think Spotify, Youtube, Twitch, TikTok and similar services are in this position of practically unlimited "good" content.

Browsing Netflix for 2 hours only to watch nothing is so common it's memed after all..

I fully agree. Where’s the Steve Jobs of streaming? Too many Meg Whitmans running around.

Just fyi, but Squid Game was a Netflix production, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_Game#Production

There are a large number of good movies on Netflix. It may not turn over as quickly as HBO's content, but the number of them is probably comparable. Try scrolling through some of the major categories and keep count of the "good" movies. *

The place Netflix really shines for me is the acquisition of non-US content. I particularly like political dramas from other countries. Even if some smaller countries aren't producing content that is quite as polished as we might expect here in the US, that's some of the charm, seeing how they make shows.

* I can't defend the browsing of Netflix -- that's just ridiculous

I'm talking specifically about Netflix produced content. The stuff that Netflix acquires or licenses is extremely expensive.

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