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You may have seen stories about Netflix's new PLAY SOMETHING feature, or even used it (it's been in test mode since summer.) But more interesting than the feature itself is why Netflix is trying to make itself more like...regular TV. I dove into this for @vulture [Thread ahoy]
Driving Netflix's thinking, in no small part, is the rising effect of something smart folks call "decision fatigue," aka "the paradox of choice." Netflix's Todd Yellin thinks of it as "analysis paralysis": It's what happens when we have too many options--- Too Much TV.
Some of us love Peak TV; for others of us, it can become Pique TV-- so much to choose from, we give up and bail. "The fear of getting stuck into this endless loop of indecision [is] exhausting," @elenaneira told me. "We freeze.” Or, worse, we cancel a subscription
Netflix has always known this was an issue. It's why they've spent massive amounts of money on designers and engineers to make their platform work better than any other streamer-- faster to load, easier to navigate. (Yes, the u/i has flaws. Some folks hate it. Don't @ me)
But whatever its weaknesses, much of it just works, and better than any other mass catalogue streamer. As @ballmatthew told me, being so far ahead has "enabled Netflix to hold much greater market power, and revenue, by the time" U.S. competition heated up.
Still, as Netflix has moved to make more of its own shows, in more genres, and just more in general, relying on its recommendation engines to surface the right content to members isn't enough. A not-small percentage of their members were starting to think of watching TV as work
And even folks who are generally fine with scrolling around for 10 minutes sometimes just want to get to something ASAP. This isn't everyone; it's probably not most people. The idea of ceding control of the remote to Netflix is bonkers for many (hi, @lindaholmes)
But when you're Netflix and you have 2500 engineers and lots of money, you can try stuff. And they've been working on ideas similar to Play Something for a decade. My story explains how the idea evolved, and how Netflix's relentless testing process kept honing the concept
It also shows that, as much as it prides itself on being a disrupter, Netflix understands that sometimes linear TV had it right. Take PLAY SOMETHING for a test drive, and you'll see it's really just an evolved form of....changing channels. It's smart shuffle...or "dumb" scrolling
Many will never press the "Play Something" button, not even once. Others will test it, find it annoying, and move on. I've been using it since November. Sometimes it's worked really well--reminding me of a show I loved but forgot to finish, or one I'd have never clicked on
Other times, I've ended up shuffling for 5 minutes, interested in nothing Netflix has shown me. (It keeps telling me to watch Glee and Arrested Development, the not-good year. No thank you, PS!) I think the feature will get "smarter" as more folks use it. We'll see.
What most intrigues me is where Play Something leads. Right now, it's opt-in: You have to Do Something to get to Play Something. But Netflix told me it is absolutely possible that one day, you'll be able to tell Netflix to start up in PS mode. You turn it on, and a show plays
Anyway, I had fun talking to Netflix's product team about how they made this happen. Lots of charts and slides on Zoom, and yet never boring. My story tries to distill what I learned, and I hope you'll check it out on @vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/netflix-play-something-decision-fatigue.html
(and p.s. thanks to @RayRahman for the awesome editing of this once-7000 word story, as well as @neiljanowitz for getting me to a much better lede and the always genius @ohmgee for the amazing art. And stay tuned....more to come.)
