Sunday, April 16, 2017

Netflix: Who is Watching Whom?

Ah, Netflix. The haven of series binge-watching, the holy grail of shows and movies galore! Netflix has given and yet we want more shows. And you know what? Netflix does too; want data on those shows.
So how does Netflix access all of this data and apply it to their business and ultimately our streaming devices?

In the blog, "The World in Digital Eye" there are a couple of articles that also delve into that question.
"Instead of choosing 8 TV shows and streaming them to the Internet for free, Ted  [Ted Sarandos] and his team used the data to analyze the viewers, subscribers, ratings or the watching record and so on. Ted and his team then use the data to reveal discover all these small things that belong to the public, like what is the kind of shows the subscribers are looking for, how are the producers or the actors the subscribers are interested in." - "Data Analysis in TV Series"
Ted Sarandos is the executive manager of content at Netflix, and he uses the basic algorithms that Netflix has set up to decipher what viewers are wanting to see, how often they see the content, and how they choose content.

While it seems like Netflix just gains insight and data from how audiences view content, other experts at Netflix explain that it is much more complex than that. Tom Gianos, a senior software engineer at Netflix, and Dan Weeks, an engineering manager for Big Data Compute at Netflix explain this during QCon San Francisco 2016.

In the next few posts, I will delve deeper into the algorithm and analytic side of Netflix, and just how they decide how you view your favorite shows.... and binge away!


4 comments:

  1. Solid emoji - nice job bringing the post to life!

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    1. Thank you! I was not sure if it was too out of line or not. :D

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  2. Kyla, with these data analytics at Netflix's disposal, I wonder how they are going to monetize it, maybe through improving attrition or selling premium movie titles you would prefer?

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    1. I will think about that as a next topic. You can read my next post "The One With A/B Testing". I talk about how they utilize the data for features for their users.

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