Netflix Recommends

"Algorithmic recommender systems, deployed by media companies to suggest content based on users' viewing histories, have inspired hopes for personalized, curated media, but also dire warnings of filter bubbles and media homogeneity. Curiously, both proponents and detractors assume that recommender systems are novel, effective, and widely used methods to choose films and series. Scrutinizing the world's most subscribed streaming service, Netflix, this book challenges that consensus. Investigating real-life users, marketing rhetoric, technical processes, business models, and historical…