Netflix wants to improve film and series recommendations with a new change – and your feelings will become even more important

You’ve probably already noticed them on Netflix: the tags, that is emotionally colored keywords, which characterize Stranger Things as “scary” and “exciting” and Bridgerton as “romantic” or charged with “big feelings”. These words will probably become even more important for the streamer in the future, while other taste measurement displays will no longer apply.

No more percentages: Netflix will soon focus even more on moods and feelings

As Indiewire reports, they could Small green percentages will soon be a thing of the past be who predict whether the new Netflix film Lift will be 88% or only 62% to your taste. This parameter, called a “match,” showed how much the Netflix algorithm believed that something might match your movie or series preferences. But instead of trying to mathematically show the preferences of its audience, Netflix wants to rely more on “tags” in the futurewhich are the words and phrases that appear under each streaming tile.

As the New York Times reported, Netflix is ​​taking this change in flavor calculations quite seriously: 30 full-time employees are currently working on tagging the films and series with appropriate keywords. Netflix’s product director Allan Donald explains this effort as follows:

Imagine if there were Magazines that had no headlines on their front pages, but only photographs. Tags make a big difference in the spontaneous decision: ‘This is for me’.

Netflix’s chief product officer Eunice Kim even told the Times that the chances of watching anything would drop rapidly if we were to 53 seconds hadn’t pressed play yet. With the keywords, Netflix wants to help us make quicker decisions in a short and concise way. In this way, the audience might not just be able to “watch something stupid,” as Willem Dafoe recently described it, but rather find truly satisfying entertainment. And with that, return to Netflix.

These are the most common keywords on Netflix

In Netflix’s database should over 3000 different words and phrases exist as topic and mood indicators. Many seem logical, others like “smooth” encourage more philosophical speculation about what could be behind it.

The most common tags are “romantic”, “exciting” and “exciting”. The label “Occupation: farmhand” seems to be the least used in English. In the future, Netflix wants to work even harder on sharpening these words, merging similar keywords and possibly adding new tags. So that you can immediately understand that the US hit series Yellowstone, which has just been released on Netflix, is “rough”.

By the way, the fact that Netflix is ​​constantly working on its recommendation algorithm is nothing new. Functions that are not accepted by the audience are quickly eliminated. Like the now no longer existing “Surprise me” function, which spontaneously suggested new content from the catalog to undecided people in 2021. Or maybe you remember the 5-star rating system that existed before the introduction of thumbs up and thumbs down feedback?

Podcast on Netflix and Co. – The 5 largest streaming services in comparison

Which streaming service is actually worth it and for whom? We ask ourselves this question in the current episode of the Moviepilot podcast Streamgegewer.

We have therefore chosen five major streaming services in Germany and are introducing them. We answer important questions about the price, the series and films on offer and more.