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Netflix, in case you hadn’t guessed already, is watching its users’ habits very closely. Netflix Senior Data Scientist Mohammad Sabah recently described just how closely Netflix is tracking its customers’ activity at a recent conference. The numbers are pretty startling.
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Sabah says that about three-fourth’s of Netflix customers make movie selections based on the company’s recommendations. Those recommendations are based off of complex algorithms Netflix feeds with vast amounts of collected data.
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GigaOm is reporting the following as some  of the data Netflix is gathering:

  • More than 25 million users
  • About 30 million plays per day (and it tracks every time you rewind, fast forward and pause a movie)
  • More than 2 billion hours of streaming video watched during the last three months of 2011 alone
  • About 4 million ratings per day
  • About 3 million searches per day
  • Geo-location data
  • Device information
  • Time of day and week (it now can verify that users watch more TV shows during the week and more movies during the weekend)
  • Metadata from third parties such as Nielsen
  • Social media data from Facebook and Twitter

Do you find anything creepy about the amount of data Netflix is gathering about its customers, or is this just par for the course for a 21st century company trying to give its customers the best experience possible?

[via GigaOm]

12 Responses to “Netflix Collecting Massive Amounts of Data on Users’ Habits”

  1. Visitor [Join Now]
    Amee [visitor]

    so you are telling me that Redbox does not keep track of the movies we have rented? I find that hard to believe. Pot shouldn’t call kettle black.

    • Visitor [Join Now]
      Sgt Carter [visitor]

      At the top of every page on this site:

      Inside Redbox is the #1 “Unofficial” Redbox Online Community for Redbox Codes, News and more. Inside Redbox is not affiliated with Redbox Automated Retail, LLC.

      So Insideredbox is not ‘the pot’. It’s someone watching the pot and kettle.
      Isn’t there a proverb about not doing that :)

  2. Visitor [Join Now]
    Danofive0 [visitor]

    Nothing new. Big NetFlix is watching you. Like Big Uncle Sam is.
    Red Box is watching your ass also. Nothing new!
    Welcome to the Land Fill USA..
    Where Big Brother looks at all you do. Even when you take a Dump!

  3. Visitor [Join Now]
    John [visitor]

    I don’t see what the big deal is. As long as they aren’t selling my name and contact info, then I don’t care what they track. So what if I like movies about cats!

  4. Visitor [Join Now]
    Jessica Louviere [visitor]

    i FEEL THE SAME WAY JOHN AND DANOFIVE0 DO, WHATS THE BIG DEAL? I LIKE THAT THEY RECOMMEND THINGS THAT I LIKE BASED ON MY PAST VIEWS, NOW WHEN I TURN ON NEXTFLIX AND IT SAYS “HELLO ASHLEY, NICE OUTFIT” THEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM LOL

  5. Visitor [Join Now]
    DonaW [visitor]

    This level of info is what allows them to predict what a user will/won’t like and make pretty darn good recommendations. I have noticed their recommendations are much improved and that’s reflecting 3 people with a vast chasm in preferences all on the same acct. – ergo, the next thing to happen will be the govt coming into our homes to let us know what brand of t.p. to use in the ‘loo

  6. Member [Join Now]
    bart927

    “Recommendations are based off of complex algorithms.” Seriously? Why are these companies making is sound like they found a cure for a disease?

    I could spend hours questioning what is being done with the “collected info” because with all the “complex” stuff you think they could “see” when the customer is having the same constant issues and then could could fix the bugs that are still apparent in their system, like buffering and stalling.

    Nah, just keep making “recommendations” based on the same type of movie you just watched. Yea, mine still look like the next alphabetical movie in the list from the same category.

    oh, and I don’t use facebook or twitter

  7. Visitor [Join Now]
    pootroot [visitor]

    It does not bother me in the least. !!

  8. Visitor [Join Now]
    Mario Antinori [visitor]

    I am in agreement with some of the commenters. It really isn’t a big deal as log as they don’t sell private info. They can collect all they want but as long as they don’t sell or give it away, I could hardly care less.