Netflix Denies Tailoring Its Movie Promotions Based on Race
Netflix Inc., criticized for its marketing practices, denied that it tailors the promotions of movies and TV shows based on the race of viewers.
Netflix users have complained that the service is trying to manipulate them into watching certain programs by touting secondary characters that are the same race as the viewer. Several black subscribers cited a thumbnail image for the movie Like Father that featured African-American performers Leonard Ouzts and Blaire Brooks -- even though the movie stars two white actors (Kelsey Grammer and Kristen Bell). These actors had maaaaaybe a 10 cumulative minutes of screen time. 20 lines between them, tops.
The company denied that it was serving thumbnails based on race. But Netflix has been open about constantly testing which images convince users to watch a program. Different viewers see different thumbnails depending on their streaming history, and theyll often see different promotions for the same show if previous thumbnails didnt convince them to watch.
We seek to be great at inclusion, across many dimensions, and these incidents show we are uneven at best, Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in June. We have already started to engage outside experts to help us learn faster.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-22/netflix-denies-tailoring-movie-promotions-based-on-users-race?srnd=premium
msongs
(67,193 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Based upon your prior viewing.
Merlot
(9,696 posts)But the past few years their recommendations have been way off base. For example, I absolutely hate cooking shows and have never watched one, yet they keep showing up in my recommendations as do cheesy 80's sitcoms even though I never watch old stuff.
Any show that stars someone, you get every show they ever starred in no matter the topic.
Also, they keep trying to slip in old Netflix productions as "New Releases" and they show things you've already seen and rated in recommendations. So this bid to change keyart is pretty weak, probably a last ditch effort.