Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, has been talking about the company’s algorithms and how it serves up content to its users.
Speaking at the TED conference, Hastings described Netflix’s programming strategy as: “We have some candy, but we have lots of broccoli, and if you have a good mix you get to a healthy diet.”
Originally, Netflix’s algorithm relied on the information viewers disclosed when asked about their programming preferences.
Now, it depends more on what users actually watch.”What happens is, when we rate, we’re metacognitive about quality – that’s sort of our aspirational self,” Hastings said.
“It works out much better, to please people, to look at the actual choices that they make.”
Hastings did caveat this by noting it didn’t mean the service will just have low-brow shows that cater for our binge-watching fix, but there will be more “broccoli” to its programming schedule, too.
“We have some candy,” said Hastings. “But we have lots of broccoli, and if you have a good mix you get to a healthy diet.”
