Netflix Offers Insight To Its Movie Recommendation System

If you have a Netflix account, I would wager you have looked at some of the categories of movies that are recommended for you and wondered where in the world Netflix came up with them. Netflix is talking a bit about its recommendation engine and offering up some insights. The company hasn't offered up hard algorithm information just yet, but apparently, that's coming later.

One interesting thing that Netflix highlights isn't a feature that I have seen, but hopefully I will soon. Netflix mentions that it will be able to tailor movie recommendations to specific family members. That would be a great thing for me since my daughter uses Netflix more than I do and only watches movies that have a horse pictured. That means 99% of the recommendations Netflix makes for me when I want to watch a movie are children's horse flicks.

Apparently, the recommendations engine that Netflix uses is very effective at keeping people using the service. The company notes that it has found the higher up the page the results from its recommendations engine are placed, the more likely people are to stick to the Netflix service. That also explains why I have to scroll so far down the page to find new additions to Netflix. Apparently, 75% of all movies watched on Netflix are from its recommendation service.

[via TheVerge]