How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
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Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#2What’s odd is that the person responding in Quora who’s speaking as if he has authority on this matter started at Netflix in 2011, 2 years after the contest ended.
The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009.
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#3I've always wondered about this. I first read about this challenge in "Programming Collective Intelligence,"[0] the O'Reilly book from 2007 that drove me to become a professional programmer. It starts like this:
> Netflix is an online DVD rental company that lets people choose movies to be sent to their homes, and makes recommendations based on the movies that customers have previously rented.
It was a different and exciting time back then! I never finished that book but hope to some day... :)
[0] https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/programming-collective-...
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#4I’d enjoy seeing a more creative approach to recommendations for something as big as Netflix.
A few suggestions:
1. Review channels by genre
2. Trailer TV - let me leave a “comedy” trailer channel running that shows the trailer and movie rating and details at the bottom, let me easily skip to the next trailer (or let it play out)
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#5That’s some great guerrilla marketing (or a business hack). At best, they actually get a better (production) algorithm. At worse, they get thought leadership among the ML/AI community and insane publicity still paying dividends today. Reed Hastings is a business savant.
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#6[deleted]
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#7I’d enjoy seeing a more creative approach to recommendations for something as big as Netflix. A few suggestions: 1. Review channels by genre 2. Trailer TV - let me leave a “comedy” trailer channel running that shows the trailer and movie rating and details at the bottom, let me easily skip to the next trailer (or let it play out)
Anything can beat their current algorithm of "push people towards our originals, preferences be damned".
EDIT: I should add in terms of customer satisfaction, not revenue. I am sure forcing their originals down people's throats is great for their revenues.
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#8What’s odd is that the person responding in Quora who’s speaking as if he has authority on this matter started at Netflix in 2011, 2 years after the contest ended. The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize
He worked 10 years there, and was former research director, so.. maybe he knows a bit or two about this prize?
He did work on productionize the 2007 winner, after all.
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#9What’s odd is that the person responding in Quora who’s speaking as if he has authority on this matter started at Netflix in 2011, 2 years after the contest ended. The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize
"Research/Engineering Director at Netflix (2011-2014)" would probably know a thing or two about how useful the contest was. (He also might have worked there before that time in a different role.)
Re: How useful was the Netflix Prize challenge for Netflix?
#10What’s odd is that the person responding in Quora who’s speaking as if he has authority on this matter started at Netflix in 2011, 2 years after the contest ended. The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize
He was the head of the area (Research/Engineering) that managed the recommendation engine. Part of that would be understanding the history.