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Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

variety.com

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Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#11

Post by dominotw »

kefka wrote: post #2

And not only that, but also removing their existing collections of videos and replacing it with their "Made by Netflix" shows that mostly amount to shovelware. I'm about ready to drop them, just like they've dropped MASH, soon to be X-Files, and many many movies.

> but also removing their existing collections of videos and replacing it with their "Made by Netflix" shows that mostly amount to shovelware.

You are not wrong

"US Netflix offers only 31 of IMDb's top 250 movies, study shows"

"David Wells, Netflix’s chief financial officer, was quoted by Variety stating that the company wants half of its content to be original productions over the next few years." [1]

RIP Netflix!

1. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/14/us-netflix-imdb...

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#12

Post by poof_he_is_gone »

Tepix wrote: post #4

Bummer. I understand why they do it but I think it's too coarse. I'd much rather know how many people thought a movie was fantastic and not just decent.

The current rating system is not a running average of how all users ranked the movie, but represents users with similar taste to yours. The same move could show a different rating for different users.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#13

Post by sgloutnikov »

I think it's a great move. Maybe on a similar note, one of the reasons I really like and find more use out of Foursquare is the way their rating system works compared to the five-star Yelp rating system. For example, in Yelp I found that all "good" restaurants are in the above 4-star rating, and that's all the information I can get out of that rating. With Foursquare, they have turned the upvote/downvote/neutral rating into a number between 1-10 that tells me more. Above average is 7+, something unique about the place 8+, truly exceptional 9+.

It just seems to me it's a simpler way to rate something by a user, and at the same time classify it more adequately.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#14

Post by kartickv »

If you have many reviewers, you don't need to get more information than thumbs up or down from each person. How much people thumbed it up is a good indicator.

Star-rating can be too much detail, anyway: if you're comparing two shows, and one has a higher fraction of five-star ratings, but the other has a higher fraction of ratings that are four or above, which is better? Star ratings can be too much detail and cause confusion.

If you want more detail from each person, you can ask specific questions with a yes/no answer, like, "Were parts of it boring?" or "Was it violent?" That's probably better than star ratings.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#15

Post by AlexandrB »

> The streaming service said it had been testing thumbs up and down ratings “with hundreds of thousands of members” in 2016 – and it led to 200% more ratings being given.

I don't understand why engagement is the right metric here. If someone isn't sure how they feel about a movie, why is it a benefit to have them spew their half-formed thoughts into a like/dislike rating?

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#16

Post by dominotw »

FussyZeus wrote: post #8
kefka wrote: post #2

And not only that, but also removing their existing collections of videos and replacing it with their "Made by Netflix" shows that mostly amount to shovelware. I'm about ready to drop them, just like they've dropped MASH, soon to be X-Files, and many many movies.

I read something (on HN actually) awhile ago about how Amazon seems to be actively trying to kill Netflix, not by going after subscribers but by going after licenses for programming by over-bidding. I think Netflix though is making more off of their in-house produced content these days so I wouldn't say they're in danger, they just might look quite different in a few years.

I use amazon channel instead of Netflix now. I subscribe to channel for a while and watch their content exclusively till I am ready to move on. I am currently watching the excellet Xive Tv channel on amazon [1].

Netflix is waay overhyped for what they actually have in their catalog.

https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Video/b?benefitId=xivetv&node...

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#17

Post by poof_he_is_gone »

flaviojuvenal wrote: post #9

But the UX of the current rating system sucks. Rating stars are very small and you have to hover them to know you can rate. Only if you watch a movie to the very end you will see a clearer rating functionality, but even then you have few seconds to use. I bet many new users don't even know they can rate. I wonder if people aren't rating much because the UX sucks, not because it's a 5-star system.

The UX on their web app may have this issue, but they have different methods for rating across their platforms. Some are easier than others.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#18

Post by dazc »

danlindley wrote: post #10

I can't imagine any film that conveys a message, cinematography, style, and meaning that could be encapsulated with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. What a disappointing simplification.

I have found with the current 5 star rating system that anything with less than 4 stars isn't worth watching.

And anything with 5 stars has a 50/50 chance of being worth watching.

So, for me, any simplification is welcome.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#20

Post by whistlerbrk »

danlindley wrote: post #10

I can't imagine any film that conveys a message, cinematography, style, and meaning that could be encapsulated with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. What a disappointing simplification.

The star system didn't capture that either though
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