This story is the second ina two-part seriesabout the inner workings of Netflixs homepage.
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Some people, what they really want to see is, what is everyone watching?
explains Todd Yellin, Netflixs vice-president of product.
They want to be in the conversation: Everyones talking aboutQueens Gambit.I see its No.
Damn, I want in on that action.
So now, to complement the personalization [of the algorithm], we also highlight popularity.
The streamer began quietly testing the value of objective, non-algorithmic-based discovery tools several years ago.
Everybody would be seeing the exact same order, Braimah says.
We didnt hit out of the park, she says.
This turned out to be a problem.
We noticed when we were refreshing it weekly, you wouldnt see titles moving from day-to-day, Braimah says.
As a result, users didnt have a reason to engage with the feature that often.
The results were better: Users were discovering a wider variety of shows and streaming longer.
Testing continued for a few more months, and by February 2020, Netflix had seen enough.
Top-ten lists rolled out around the world.
How real is it?
Netflix opted for this metric because it evens out disparities in program length and episode count.
We had to level the playing field, Yellin explains.
Some are convinced that the companys sophisticated computer programs too often hide content theyd actually enjoy.
Producers have also been known toblame the failure of their Netflix showson titles being lost in the algorithm.
Yellin politely but firmly pushes back against such concerns.
For one, he believes the Netflix algorithm is too often misunderstood and oversimplified.
If that was the only reason, we wouldnt have done it.
Johnson is even more clear: Its a hundred percent objective, he says of the top tens.
We just add up what shows got watched the most and we do it by country every 24 hours.
Thats also the take from the content side of Netflix.
What weve seen is the top ten can make a show more talkable, she says.
1on the Netflix top ten.
Of course, the buzz generated by the top-ten lists can cut both ways.
The top ten giveth and the top ten taketh away, Bajaria quips.
Up next: sound effects?
Netflix isnt done experimenting with its use of objective data on the platform.
Were going to be doing a bunch of experimentation, he says.
Netflix also wants to make this new, more objective data stand out more.
Were trying to push those boundaries, Braimah says.
The Netflix interface doesnt need to be always static.
She means that quite literally.
(Thats one reasonPlay Somethingis an opt-in experience.)
Thats why we do the testing, Johnson says.
It sort of earns its place in the product.
Mostly, the same way it judges if its shows are working: hours spent streaming and user retention.
In the case of product testing, Netflix also drills down further.
No detail is too small for testing.
Spoiler alert: Bolder wasnt better.
