I usually use the Netflix app on my iPad to choose what I’m going to watch. In the description area there’s a 1-5 star rating system which I assumed was an average of user ratings, and it has some influence on what I decide to watch.
But tonight I happened to browse Netflix on a desktop Chrome browser, and I notice that the rating system comes with an “Our best guess for solost” label above it. That label does not appear in the iPad app, but the ratings are the same between the two.
So is that star rating a user review aggregate, or is it some kind of algorithm of what Netflix THINKS I’ll like, based on what I’ve watched? Or some blend of the two? I like to have some idea of what others have thought about a program or movie before I dedicate a chunk of my time to it. I don’t have much confidence in Netflix deciding what I’ll like :rolleyes:
It’s been a while since I’ve had Netflix, but I remember seeing the “predicted” ratings - a very good thing IME and IMO, given the massive amount of data they can apply sophisticated algorithms to…they know from your viewing/rating history if you’re more interested in teen comedies or arty foreign films (or if you like them both), and will weight other similar user’s ratings accordingly to try to predict what you might like.
From what I can tell, the star ratings represent their guess for you. At least, that’s what it seems like when I look over the ones that are highly rated and lowly rated for me. There can be critically well-received and not-so-well-received series in the mix, depending on what I’ve rated and how highly I’ve rated them.
For example, pulling up “Anchorman 2” on my iPad, I see 2 red stars. (ETA: If you see yellow stars, that means you’ve rated it.) Pulling up the movie page on my computer, I see Our Best Guess for Pulykamell: 2 stars; Average Viewer Rating: 3 stars. So I guess that answers that question.
I don’t see any way on my iDevices to pull up the page that gives both these numbers. It would be useful. (Though I’m fairly predictable, it seems, as its ratings conform to my tastes pretty well. Still, I’d like to see what overall ratings from all Netflix users are, too.)
Ok, so you can see both “best guess” AND user average ratings in a browser. Yeah, I don’t see anywhere to do it in the app. The app is limited in other ways compared to Netflix on a browser. think I’ll just try Chrome on my iPad instead. Thanks for the replies.
Even the mobile web versions of NetFlix are substantially limited compared to the desktop versions. I haven’t specifically tried Chrome on iOS, but Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS are NOT the same experience or functionality as the regular desktop site.
As for how they calculate their ratings? I honestly don’t know. I have over 5,000 total ratings, which you might think would mean reliable predictions, but NetFlix seems to lean heavily on connections that don’t matter much to me. For example, some recommendations seem driven by similar actors or directors, even if they’re totally different genres. Others seem to assume that one horror movie is the same as any other. If I liked The Shining, I’m sure to love Hostel, right? Bad things happen in a hotel - they’re practically twins!
Anyway, one thing I definitely see is that new releases can be heavily colored by the first few voters. Sometimes I’ll add a new movie to my queue when NetFlix gives it 5/5 stars. By the time the DVD arrives, NetFlix estimates it at 2/5 stars. I’m not sure which one is more accurate, honestly, but it shows that the ratings are very fickle things.
They do seem to be working on their mobile apps, though. When I first signed up with Netflix Streaming, less than a year ago, there was no way to log in under different profiles from the Android app. Now, all of a sudden, there is.