Back in 2006, Netflix offered to pay $1,000,000 to anyone who can improve its movie recommendations by 10%. A reliable supply of recommendations will keep a customer who’s otherwise run out of movies to watch from canceling his account.
For comparison, let’s analyze the technique Netflix is currently using to pick movies for me. I’ve rated some genres in the past (comedy: 5 stars, horror: no stars), and this afternoon it crunched some numbers and recommended this new genre:
Romantic British Dramas
Your taste preferences created this row.• British
• Dramas
• Romantic
Just imagine what a 10% improvement will do!
“Romantic British Dramas” are a in a horror class of their own. Specifically the horror of watching a movie where nothing happens for 15 hours.
As much as I appreciate Netflix’s effort to keep me as a customer, event the best recommendation algorithm can’t overcome a 25% surcharge for preferring Blu-ray. (Blockbuster’s mail service has the same base price, without the surcharge.)