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Comment by madrox | Hacker News Reader

We experimented with this idea at Disney in 2012 with short form content. We learned a few things by building basically this exact experience.

First, it’s not really different from Netflix-style sliders, except it’s hiding more things behind clicks. Second, finding a good recommendation isn’t the hard problem…it’s getting people to hit play on what’s being recommended. I don’t know how many times I get recommended Vanilla Sky, I can’t seem to work up the fortitude of committing a couple hours to watching Tom Cruise.

This is why clips and auto-play experiences are so big these days. It takes away the need to hit play and the investment is low. It’s why Netflix is rolling out the Play Something experience.

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The thing that stops me from watching movies/shows when recommended by some automated system is the lack of information. All of these systems either start playing the video or have a one line blurb "You will like this because you watched some other show."

Just give me a proper blurb about the show/movie. Just because I'm in an app to watch things doesn't mean you don't still have to sell me on watching something. Hell, personalising a text blurb to my tastes and mood could be really powerful. Even showing me the trailer rather than starting the movie would be an improvement.

This sort of stuff, plus the complete disrespect for the emotional downtime needed at the end of some episodes* makes me think the people in charge of these places don't even fucking watch TV.

* The show makers get this, the episode smash cuts to black and the credits roll with a slow, quiet song while you decompress. Then BAM next episode, no moment to think about and enjoy the experience you just had.

We explored that (I believe Netflix did, too). The challenge became making relevant promos. I don’t know a lot about the science of producing trailers, but if you look at old ones they are more dated than the movie. The cost of what you’re suggesting is high, and there isn’t a lot of evidence that it really improves conversion.

But it doesn't even have to be a trailer. Did you look at text promos?

Yeah I know what you meant. If you're looking for synopsis beyond existing text promos, it's still a significant cost to watch and summarize. It's still not a lot cheaper and quite arduous.

> Even showing me the trailer rather than starting the movie would be an improvement.

God yes. I use the Netflix app on mute and do this silly dance around between titles while I'm considering them to avoid it.

It probably looks like I'm really 'engaged'...

Maybe the recommendations just aren't that good in that case? If they were good wouldn't people hit play?

I suspect there is a sense of commitment and potentially subtle signals of self criticism in actually “choosing” to watch a recommended film.

Have you ever had something recommended to you that you really dragged your feet on watching but once you did you really enjoyed? That’s the bigger challenge than actual recommendations these days.

I think it’s a paradox of choice and, in a family setting, trouble finding something that fits the taste/mood of a few people.

You have to watch Vanilla sky! I think most people's problem is that they want something easy to watch, and recent. This is because we're lazy, and we are attracted by novelty (and novelty fades away quickly).

The first thought that comes to mind upon reading your comment is that though "the recommendation" may be "good" in a narrow sense, if people don't click on it, maybe it's not a "good recommendation" in a broader sense.

More broadly, when friends recommend a book, show, movie, new snack, etc., is it possible to divorce the "content" being recommended to them from the other information in the recommendation?

I think there’s some post hoc ergo prompter hoc with blaming recommendations if someone doesn’t want to watch what’s being recommended. If you watch what’s recommended to you and you don’t like it…that’s a bad recommendation. If you don’t even watch it, then there’s likely other factors than the recommendation that are barriers to watching.

If you don't feel like watching Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky you're quite lucky, because you can just watch Open Your Eyes instead.

I believe this, because of how successful TT was w infinite scroll, auto-play.

RE: Vanilla Sky

There are interesting moments to that film, (like the holographic jazz player at the fancy party) but it isn't worth sitting for to see Cruise if you haven’t already seen Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Day After Tomorrow and Minority Report.

I’m not really a fan of Tom Cruise, but I thought he was pretty great in Magnolia.

I agree, his performance is good. Also, this film is closer to Vanilla Sky in type than the others I listed.

I hate, loathe, and despise auto-play solutions. I finally figured out how to kill that feature of Netflix, so that I can enjoy watching it a lot more.

If they bring back enforced auto-play, then I’m deleting the fucking account.

it completely ruins my experience as well. When I finish watching something, I want to take time to digest and reflect on what I just saw, to relish in the mood or feeling that I was put in by the show/film, not get mindlessly forced into something new.

I can't stand this whole "engagement" agenda that media/entertainment tech companies are pushing so damn hard down our throats more and more everyday.

And I really don't get it. The more we "engage" the more content we will burn through per unit time. So without auto play horse shit I might watch an episode or two a night and really marinate in it. But the auto play is always pushing my to watch more, so maybe I won't marinate, maybe I watch 4 or 5 episodes tonight.

Now the good show I was watching is over... now what? Watch something else? Maybe I ran out of good things. Do I really need to keep paying for this service? I've already watched all the good stuff.

What's your opinion on the abundance of content on platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc?

To me, seeing 20 movie thumbnails at the glance adds noise and makes the decision harder.

Play Something's Netflix experience seems the way to go

"100 channels and nothing's on" is an old phenomenon. People become paralyzed by choice because they feel they need to make the optimal choice, which simply doesn't exist.

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