eli5: why do streaming service apps struggle so badly to accurately bookmark where you stopped watching?
In: 4
One of the biggest factors in one of the algorithms that they use. If there are a group of us watching a documentary on Netflix (say 100 peeps) and I grab the specifics of time of day started, total time to view (if fully viewed), and where you stopped watching (there are a couple of parts to this stat: when I stopped it did I leave Netflix, or did I go to start something else on Netflix).
Now I have that data. I start mining the data for the user, and for the title. That gives me a remarkable amount of statistics about you as a user (combined with the stats I have been saving for you as a user). Let’s say I see a trend in your data that shows me that when watching documentaries you have a typical eye-span (amount of time your eyes are glued to Netflix) of 22 minutes. And you typically bounce out of that doc and go to another doc in the same genre (guitar players). When you end that one, you typically leave Netflix.
So the theory goes that I should show you shorter documentaries to choose from because when you actually watch one to completetion, you tend to choose to stay and usually pick something a little off that topic but in the same light. So now I can feed you new titles that match what you are more likely to choose. That in turn helps my eye-span number for you stay relevant.
Long winded and you kind of have to fill in the blanks for yourself. But it is one that they use. Never underestimate the thirst that people have for TV and how the companies that own the content and the massive amount of feeds.
Does that make sense?
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