Netflix to drop content ‘match’ percentages and push tags instead: report

Netflix is planning to overhaul its content discovery algorithm.

Speaking to IndieWire, the streamer confirmed that it will “likely” do away with content “match” percentages as part of a shift towards tags. Currently, the service uses its all-important algorithm to assign a percentage to a given movie or show based on how closely it believes said title aligns with your tastes.

Now, however, the company says it wants to place more of an emphasis on tags — the buzzwords that succinctly describe what a title is about — instead of the match percentages. For example, the new Kevin Hart heist movie, Lift, uses the tags “suspenseful,” “exciting” and “action comedy,” while marquee Netflix title The Witcher is described as “exciting,” “adventure” and “epic world.”

Tags have become increasingly important for Netflix, with The New York Times reporting earlier this week that the streamer has 30 employees working full-time on them. Altogether, there are over 3,000 tags.

Speaking to The New York Times, Netflix said tags are intended to quickly get people interested in a title since the chances of someone watching anything drops “precipitously” after 53 seconds.

On the flip side, the implementation of the tags themselves can seemingly be a bit vague or even random. For instance, Spider-Man: No Way Home was just added to Netflix Canada, and the three tags that are displayed are “mind-bending,” “slick” and “family.”

The trippy Doctor Strange sequences are “mind-bending,” presumably, but this isn’t exactly some thought-provoking Inception-style film. Meanwhile, “slick” is also used to describe the ever-popular Toronto-shot legal drama Suits, which hardly has anything in common with Spider-Man.

It remains to be seen whether Netflix’s further investment in tags might result in arguably more specific descriptors.

Image credit: Netflix (screenshot)

Source: IndieWire