Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform, brings together nearly 200 million viewers. Spread across 190 countries, how does Netflix’s AI organize its content? Read on.
Streaming platforms have started to grow in recent decades. So it’s interesting to understand how Netflix manages to keep its audience in the face of this burgeoning competition. The main thing is easy to understand: it optimizes its content.
How and how often does Netflix make a new selection of series and films?
Fundamental decision-making lies with the streaming service’s executive managers. They decide whether to buy or produce in-house. This search for and creation of new content is called “in-house production”. title “in the jargon of the platform. The parameters on which these choices are based are diverse. These parameters can include contemporary polemics, social and cultural trends, and country-specific topics of attraction. The platform also studies the predominance of its target audience, as the character of the latter influences the efficiency of titles.
Two guiding principles for content selection
The job of executive managers is to answer two fundamental questions each time. The first is: ” What are the titles, and how do they compare? ” and the second, ” How to assess the size of the target audience and their location? “. These questions seem very simple, but the clarity with which they are answered has led to worldwide success.
How does Netflix’s AI manage all this?
Netflix has to make a big data analysis. To do this, he can first draw on the previous content. This initial material can be used as a basis for studying which titles have had what kind of success, and in which region. But apart from that, Netflix is also active in classic strategies such as Nielsen market research or Gfk (Germany).
A weakness of this approach is that the results cannot be representative at all times of the year. A year can be subdivided into various periods in which the things that can attract the target audience vary. In a constantly changing context, we had to find another way of proceeding. Netflix therefore preferred to use a Artificial Intelligence.
Netflix’s AI sorts and analyzes
This AI developed by the streaming platform handles analysis, and works on two distinct levels. These two levels answer the two questions posed above. In short, the AI makes a film and series sorting according to similarities in several stages. And it determines a series of criteria to create an amalgam of attractive films and series. For example, he might combine the following criteria: professional challenge, young adults, technology for the following content: ” The Bold Type “, ” Career plan ” and “ La Casa De Papel “.
In reality, AI draws on every piece of information it receives; any element can be used to analyze and predict. What exactly does it take into account? AI gathers metadata and content: title, genre, type, available languages, release date, viewing time… Many other elements can be added to this list. This Artificial Intelligence can be based on summaries given either by humans or by intelligent language systems.
Similarity maps
These maps are the result of similarity studies on the various titles that the AI has analyzed. These maps can be based on one or more of the criteria studied, such as the type of film or the type of humor found. They are executed on demand, but Netflix’s AI can now create them on its own. It then exploits the available data to produce original similarity maps.
These AI-generated maps are appreciated for their ability to generate content specific to each viewer. They are then spoilt for choice when it comes to viewing content that effectively matches them. And available in various genres: series, films, documentaries, anime. The result is a mix of fantastic series and films such as ” Shadowhunters, Stranger Things and Love and Monsters “
Why is this Netflix AI becoming more and more important?
The impact of Artificial Intelligence in all areas of human life needs no further explanation. But for Netflix, it’s becoming increasingly essential for optimizing content to satisfy the platform’s users. The key is to keep it attractive, original and innovative in the way it presents content.
On the other hand, the streaming platform’s employees recognize that a major part of Netflix’s success comes from its users. They are therefore convinced that ” excel in determining users’ real needs and satisfying them to the maximum by studying the available data.”
The best strategy Netflix employees can choose is to combine AI with their human abilities. So it’s not a question of leaving everything to AI. On the other hand, Netflix can also start to consider a factor that could boost its success in undeniable ways. The platform should know in advance which films and series are potentially “successful” in which countries. This data will give it a head start and a big financial advantage.
Artificial Intelligence on the rise
On the other hand, AI-related careers have been growing steadily over the last ten years. While it is creating a whole series of new professions, others risk disappearing if it continues to evolve in this way. With the advent of robotization and task automation, a non-exhaustive list of jobs could soon be relegated to machines.