Netflix allows its subscribers to indicate whether or not they liked the content by marking with a thumbs up or down the best series on the platform, as well as all movies and documentaries, but this content rating system may fall short. What if there is a viewer who doesn’t like a movie but loves it?
The two thumbs up means a rating higher than “like”, it would be an “I love it”
The answer seems to be clear two thumbs up. When the user gives this response, it will go beyond “it’s good” into the realm of “masterpiece”, which offers a double positive aspect both to the same user and to others. And this is the rating system recently added to Netflix in all its variants: website, mobile app on iOS and Android, as well as in the versions for smart TVs.
On the one hand that rating allows the Netflix algorithm to discriminate between content that the subscriber “just likes” from content that the subscriber “loves.”this provides the viewer with an additional criterion for suggesting content suggestions that are even more in line with his or her tastes. On the other hand, it also serves to elaborate valid recommendations for other subscribers whose content ratings are similar.
Christine Doig-Cardet, director of Product Innovation and Experience Personalization at Netflix, states that for them “it is very important to be able to find the shows and movies that are going to delight the viewer”, recognizing the streaming platform’s will to become the place where it’s easier to select something to watch.
In 2017 Netflix eliminated its previous content ratings system based on the up to five stars that could be awarded, but Doig-Cardet says that the binary system of “thumbs up”/”thumbs down” is not enough. Especially with a virtually endless catalog of content that is constantly growing and where it is not always easy to find a film, series or documentary that can satisfy the subscriber.
This situation has led to the development of the so-called “choice fatigue”a behavior that is well known by many users who sometimes spend more time browsing through content and deciding which one to watch than actually watching it. Something that Netflix intends to eliminate if not eliminate at least minimize. Options such as shuffle playback, which eliminates the search process, are also useful for this purpose.
