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Netflix Adds Top 10 Feature So You Can See What Everyone's Watching (cnet.com) 61

Posted by msmash from the for-what-it-is-worth dept.
Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content on Netflix? Now you can jump on the bandwagon and check out the streaming service's most popular options. Netflix has added a Top 10 feature, the company said Monday. From a report: "Starting today you'll notice something new when you go on Netflix: The Top 10 row," the company said in a tweet. "The lists update daily to show what's popular in your country and are broken into three categories: Netflix overall, shows & films." The most popular Netflix offerings in your country should show up in their own row once you log in to your Netflix account, the company said. "The list is rolling out globally now and should be on your homepage by the end of the day at the latest."
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Netflix Adds Top 10 Feature So You Can See What Everyone's Watching More

Netflix Adds Top 10 Feature So You Can See What Everyone's Watching

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  • So now I will have even more stuff I don't want to watch show up auto playing. How many ways do I need to tell Netflix that I don't want to watch Chelsea self-flagellate herself over whiteness over expensive Chardonnay on the terrace of her mansion?

    • How about a language filter? That would be reasonable and useful I don't care what everyone else is watching.

    • So now I will have even more stuff I don't want to watch show up auto playing.

      *cough* Netflix Will Now Let You Disable Its Awful Autoplaying Feature [slashdot.org] *cough*

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by vux984 ( 928602 )

        So... I immediately disabled autoplay because it was the most annoying mis-feature in the universe.

        But in typical fuckwit fashion, they didn't seem leave any obvious way for you conveniently manually watch that autoplay preview/trailer "on demand".

        Some movies have an easy 'view trailer' option, but it seems a lot of stuff doesn't. How hard is this to get right?

        • It also does not stop the shit from autoplaying when you go to look at what language the crap is in. It still fucking autoplays without selecting the "play" button.

          It does seem to stop the annoying "previews" however.

          I does nothing to stop the annoying "autoplay" however.

          Clearly NetFlix does not understand what "autoplay" is!

    • Someone needs to create a site that announces the movie of the day. Everyone who wants to play would then stream this movie (not neccessarily watch it). The idea is to drive things like Sharkanado 5 or Eraserhead onto the top ten list every day.

    • I already have two catagories displayed: "Trending Now" and "Popular on Netflix", so I'm not sure I also need a top ten list.

  • More like it will be "the top 10 shows Netflix really really wants you to watch". Like it REALLY wants me to watch "Locke and Key" for some reason.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Strill ( 6019874 )

      Locke and Key is really good. It's a supernatural mystery drama based on a comic book.

      • Oh I see. So it for kids.

        • Sort of ...

          It's sort of the same format as a show for kids, but without the kid gloves. Only a couple episodes in, but the story is intriguing and well executed with a lot more adult level creepy and graphic content than I expected (not too over the top, but enough to make a visceral impact when set against the overall tone).

      • "Comic Book" is so passe. The Politically Correct term is "Graphic Novel". Apparently that is a novel that is made entirely of pictures. Sort of like a Comic Book, but without actually calling it a Comic Book. Because, you know, Comic Books are printed on newsprint and sell at the corner rag shop for a dime. "Graphic Novel" is supposed to imply somewhat better quality.

  • Sure some of the stuff is what everyone else watches. But I am my own Standard Deviation of interests, So the most popular shows may not be interesting to me at all.

    • That's what's a little surprising about this to me.

      Netflix has had personalized recommendations since day 1. This is just going back to a null model, "assume I am the average person...", like any bestseller list.

      • Re:I am not so conserned about everyone else. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @04:34PM (#59762484) Homepage

        It is probably to help you break out of the algorithmic ghetto. Pretty much all recommendation engines have the same problem: they overfit. At first, it's great. You buy one product, then they make some good suggestions. Then you buy another product and the suggestions get better. A few purchases later and you have a really nicely tailored experience. But after a while, the algorithms take over and begin to hide anything that doesn't fit into the myopic view the engine has of you.

        • I agree with you. More recently my Netflix is so biased towards things I like that is hard to find different and interesting things to watch, so I'm using my wife's profile from time to time.

    • No kidding.

      Why the fuck would I care what everyone else is watching? They are all morons.

    • Not only is a coarse aggregate of bulk consume not interesting, the Netflix categories are untrustworthy in general.

      Have fun browsing the News or Just Added just to find titles which have been in Netflix for ages, preventing the customer to see what has actually been made available recently

      Make sure each title is in as many categories as possible to make the selection process as time consuming as possible

      Prevent the customer from removing titles entirely from the suggestions so as much time is wasted as pos

  • Netflix Manipulates Top 10 Feature So You Watch What They Want You To Watch

  • Can't wait to find out what the bots are promoting on Netflix ... oh, wait. I canceled Netflix because they'd stopped offering a diverse catalog of features and had substituted "original" content I found mostly boring.

  • https://www.netflixprize.com/ [netflixprize.com] They paid $1,000,000 for a 10% reduction in RMSE on predicting individual preferences. It was all about figuring out what you would like, even just a bit more accurately.

    This is such a 180 degree reversal. Now they just tell you to watch. It seems like such a clear example of how companies transition from customer-focus to prioritizing outside revenue streams.

    • Exactly this. They already watered down their 5-star rating system and this is another step away from showcasing what you'll actually like most. Ever notice how you can't get a sorted list of content "most highly recommended for me"? If they gave us that it'd be harder to shovel their own content at us.
  • When will they actually add some decent filter options, like i want to check out all action movies or all asian movies.. and as a non-subscriber, why can't I see what's available to me so I can decide if I want the service. Also I like older tv-shows like streets of san francisco and hart to hart, where are those shows, when they started they claimed they would have all the old shows, now they only have their new 'netflix originals' crap shows..

    • Re:Pfff (Score:4, Insightful)

      by GoTeam ( 5042081 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @04:31PM (#59762458)
      Netflix is a victim of their own success. They had lots of good content for a while. Once companies started noticing how popular Netflix was, they stopped licensing their content out to Netflix in favor of building their own streaming service. Now just about every service is watered down and they think original content is their best method to keep subscribers and generate new ones.
    • Exactly my complaint. It is so fucking hard to find stuff if you have decided you want to watch a specific genre or type of movie/show. I don't understand why they continue to make this difficult. I really don't give a shit what other people are watching or what is currently trending.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dwywit ( 1109409 )

      1. The first month's free, you can cancel before they start billing you.

      2. It's hardly Netflix's fault if the content owners don't want to licence their products to Netflix. It's greed - the content owners (looking at you, D!sney) have seen how profitable it's become to make back catalogues available, and they don't want to share it with Netflix.

      I think Netflix saw this coming, hence the investment in original content - most of which is pretty good IMO. I'm not saying I watch all or even most of the origina

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        The funny thing is, those studios like Disney the depth of the content is very shallow, so they are not worth it either. So now you simply rotate from streaming service to streaming service, doing no more than say six months for each and skipping a year before coming back, if they add new content. They will end up making less money than if they simply licensed to netflix or in the end traded content between each other, hour for hour, so customers stayed longer. Not producing new content, no one wants to tra

      • Uhh, maybe you haven't heard, but Netflix is stopping with that 'first month free', and our country (the Netherlands) has already been hit with it, so no more free first months..

        Most of the old series I like aren't produced by the companies owned by Disney, so that flyer doesn't go up (as we say here in the Netherlands).. At least last I heard Universal and Sony weren't part of Disney, and both still haven't got their own exclusive streaming services.

        • Disney is just an example though, CBS has their own streaming service, NBC is launching theirs in 2020. ABC is owned by Disney so I imagine their stuff will get rolled into Plus eventually. HBO, probably other premium channels have their own.

          And as the GP said, they all are starting to realize that their back catalogs are probably worth more than just spamming them all day on MeTV and such so they don't want to license anything to NF while they figure out what to do with it all.

          Mind you, I'm in the US so my

      • Yet, as parent requested, shows like hart 2 hart or streets of SF, that old stuff, should be licence-able, no?

  • Except I don't care for what everyone else is watching.

    Like probably most of us in Slashdot, I've got my own mind....

    I was quite surprised how much on Netflix is actually really dire...

  • I stopped using Netflix browsing long time ago. Instead, I went off to places like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes and made an objective list of everything I want to watch based on my own tastes. Then I stuffed it all into Todoist projects named "To watch - Series", "To watch - Films" and "To watch - Documentaries". I don't need an algorithm to tell me what he "thinks" I like to watch. 90% of suggestions are crap because:

    A. Because Netflx obviously uses their browser to aggressively advertise their own and high-

  • Is that still around? :)

  • For years we just googled "the best things to watch on netflix" and then started uTorrent.

  • So that you can be manipulated into thinking that you're being told what everyone else is watching.
  • netflix renamed the "popular on netflix" widget. neato cheeto.
    • This. I'd rather just be able to see what shows were added in the last 30 days, and which are leaving in the next month. I really don't care what's "popular" or "trending." And let me remove crap from the "continue watching" list when I've watched a little bit and don't WANT to continue watching.

  • I'd be happy if they created an algorithm that actually takes into account the shows I have previously watched to completion. I watch the first 10 min of some show that seems interesting but turns out to be crap. I do not want to be informed of all the other crappy shows that have the same metatags.

  • Don't you get to hear about it all day at work from your coworkers?

  • I really don't think you want to know what everyone else is watching.

    Especially if you live in Utah or Idaho.

    Just my humble opinion.

  • Scrolling through titles and watching the 30 second trailers when hovering over them.

  • My friends, yeah, maybe. But when I was a kid in the 70s I quickly figured out that not only did I dislike popular music, but the stuff I liked (early Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, Tangerine Dream, etc) never got either airplay nor magazine paragraphs. Ditto for my TV viewing habits, I very seldom watch any top 10 shows. Movies? Yeah, that's more diverse but still, I tend to avoid blockbusters like superhero movies.

  • Hulu has "Most watched/most popular" IIRC. I am surprised Netflix only now is rolling out this feature.

  • I really just wanted them to stop recommending movies to which I already gave a rating or have watched. Useless emails and notifications are annoying.

  • Be more like anyone else than anyone else.

  • I use a firefox browser extension to show the IMDB scores [mozilla.org], this helps to filter out so you can get to the half decent content.

  • Most people have pretty low brow tastes so I fully expect the top 10 to be full of utter dross. I'm sure there will be Adam Sandler movies. 'Nuff said.

  • It's always the same ads and most are things I've already watched. They could use that space to show stuff I HAVE NOT seen.

  • Just like the hurricane in 2012.

    Just like Lincoln's second term.

    Just like W's second term.

    During Dessert Storm, HW's numbers were over 80% approval.
  • I don't care what the top 10 is. Why should I care what idiots watch? I'm not doing a thesis on mental retardation.

    What I DO want is the ability to say "never show me this item again." All they ever show me is crap that I already rejected. They don't even care if I already rated it thumbs down, they still think they should offer it to me. Eventually, there is so much chaff, that finding the wheat is impossible.

  • You had one chance - I though "Hey, that's interesting, I wonder what's on it." Can't find it anywhere. I even looked up something online telling how to find it, and it's not there for me. This is just dumb. It's one of the things I found frustrating when I worked at Google, instead of saying "We released this thing, here's the URL, enjoy", everything had to be pre-sold three or six weeks in advance, so by the time it actually shipped nobody cared any more. Steve Jobs knew how to do this shit right, re

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