Netflix's new shuffle button: Overwhelmed with choosing what to watch? Netflix wants to help
In the last decade, Netflix has made a pretty clear move towards beefing up its TV show roster. Known more for movies back in 2010, Netflix has roughly quadrupled the number of TV shows in its US library since, as its movie library has shrunk (data from ReelGood). That means that if you just want a series to dip into on a couple of weekday evenings, you've got 2000+ shows to choose from (and that's just Netflix) — a decent chunk of which you probably have absolutely no interest in. That makes deciding what to watch quite hard.
Netflix, hit shuffle
Netflix has launched a new feature, which they're calling "Play Something", which the company hopes will take the dithering out of deciding what you want to watch. The button, which is being rolled out this week to all of its users, will choose something from Netflix's content that it thinks you'll like.
This is a pretty big test of just how good the Netflix algorithm is. Can an algorithm really make a better decision about what you want to watch on a regular basis? Or is this button only going to help those houses where arguments over what to watch boil over every night? Time will tell.
