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Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

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Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#71

Post by guepe »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #59
boffinism wrote: post #6

If you spent 20 mins looking, it's not their recommendation system that's failing. It's that you don't like their content (or how their content is portrayed). The recommendation system is the thing that shows you stuff without you needing to browse for 20 mins.

I haven't been watching anything for a couple of years because I have two children and that limits tv a lot. However, the recommendation system still sucks. They haven't recommended me lockwood and co on Netflix, we stumbled on it because it was popular (and we binged watched it one night when both were asleep). So I do think it sucks. Recommendation seems to consider similarity, but not "quality" : they give equal t…

It's exactly the issue: it recommends based on "same style of what you watched", not on "this is high quality".

I watch high quality shows only - anyway I don't watch much.

And I have the exact same impression, it doesn't suggest me quality shows.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#72

Post by curun1r »

Their goal is to keep you subscribed, not to keep you entertained.

They know they don’t have enough premium content to keep you as a subscriber if that’s all you watch. That kind of content usually costs a ton to create. So they need to have you watch filler content as well. And just like social media companies have taken advantage of the slot machine effect to increase addictiveness, so too do streamers. If everything you watch is good, you’ll end up watching less and be more likely to cancel.

You’re assuming that the goal of a recommendation algorithm is to recommend the thing you’d most want to watch at that specific moment. It’s not. The goal is to maximize their retention. It’s amazing how many of life’s annoyances become instantly explainable when you realize that your interests are not aligned with those of the companies you’re dealing with. Your happiness will always be a secondary concern to their profits.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#73

Post by er0cksc »

Read an article about how Netflix stages in house CDN "boxes" directly in key ISP locations, directly on the switch. Certain high ranking shows are spread through the CDN for responsiveness. Some of the recommended shows are the ones staged close to the watcher to eliminate lag. https://about.netflix.com/en/news/how-netflix-works-with-isp...

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#74

Post by etrautmann »

er0cksc wrote: post #73

Read an article about how Netflix stages in house CDN "boxes" directly in key ISP locations, directly on the switch. Certain high ranking shows are spread through the CDN for responsiveness. Some of the recommended shows are the ones staged close to the watcher to eliminate lag. https://about.netflix.com/en/news/how-netflix-works-with-isp...

What is the relevance to the OP’s question?

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#75

Post by humanistbot »

tnzk wrote: post #37
humanistbot wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also paradox of choice / overchoice phenomena, where the more options you have, the less you feel satisfied with any of them.

Considering you wouldn't feel satisfied most with only one option, what will be the optimal number of options?

> Considering you wouldn't feel satisfied most with only one option

Not true, the opposite often happens when you don't really have a choice and are mentally exhausted. If you're expecting choice and don't get it, then of course you're not going to be satisfied. But the lack of any choice (other than just leaving) can make certain people in certain states more satisfied than anything else. Legacy broadcast radio worked on this principle for a long time, and still does for people who just keep their car radio on a single station and let the DJ or talk radio producer make all the decisions.

> what will be the optimal number of options?

That varies significantly, both between individuals in terms of the average tolerance, as well as within individuals in terms of their present psychological state.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#76

Post by gkoberger »

er0cksc wrote: post #73

Read an article about how Netflix stages in house CDN "boxes" directly in key ISP locations, directly on the switch. Certain high ranking shows are spread through the CDN for responsiveness. Some of the recommended shows are the ones staged close to the watcher to eliminate lag. https://about.netflix.com/en/news/how-netflix-works-with-isp...

The article you linked to doesn't say this at all.

It says almost the exact opposite; they cache shows based on the algorithm, not that they recommend shows based on what's cached.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#78

Post by CrypticShift »

hauxir wrote: post #3

Totally agree, that's why I gave up on it myself and created an aggregator. https://tomatotree.tv

These are other similar filter-based aggregators (mostly Netflix) https://pastebin.com/raw/ZpsCywHe if anyone is interested.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#79

Post by varispeed »

boffinism wrote: post #6

If you spent 20 mins looking, it's not their recommendation system that's failing. It's that you don't like their content (or how their content is portrayed). The recommendation system is the thing that shows you stuff without you needing to browse for 20 mins.

That's simply not true. There is plenty of content I like, but I am not getting it recommended.

Often I find stuff on Reddit or other forums or through my own research then look for it on Amazon or Netflix and often it is there, but was never recommended to me.

Re: Ask HN: How can Netflix and Amazon Prime be this bad at recommending content?

#80

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

guepe wrote: post #71
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been watching anything for a couple of years because I have two children and that limits tv a lot. However, the recommendation system still sucks. They haven't recommended me lockwood and co on Netflix, we stumbled on it because it was popular (and we binged watched it one night when both were asleep). So I do think it sucks. Recommendation seems to consider similarity, but not "quality" : they give equal t…

It's exactly the issue: it recommends based on "same style of what you watched", not on "this is high quality". I watch high quality shows only - anyway I don't watch much. And I have the exact same impression, it doesn't suggest me quality shows.

Yes that's the same thing I noticed.

Interestingly, Steam seems to do a much better job at recommending OR my ability to filter out good/bad videogames is much superior. The problem with a movie is that you can't see a part of the plot for some of them or it would spoil it, while for videogames you definitely want to look at the gameplay (at least for me) before buying.

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