The service is screening content for focus groups months in advance
Ask the internet for opinions on Netflix, and you’ll often hear the same thought repeated again and again: the content sucks these days. While you’ll often find differing conclusions on what makes up the select “good” shows produced by the company — one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — it doesn’t seem like anyone is fully satisfied with the current output of shows. Netflix has spent the last year working with audiences to better tune its content to fan expectations, sometimes months in advance.
Netflix has been relying on feedback panels from a select group of subscribers since last May, according to a new report from Variety and confirmed by the company. It’s nothing new to Hollywood, though it demonstrates how the service has moved from a tech upstart to an ingrained part of film and TV culture in Los Angeles. Unlike other focus groups, Netflix only selects current subscribers to view upcoming releases ahead of time, narrowing the group of potential opinions to customers exclusively.
If selected to participate, subscribers are given unreleased shows and movies in their entirety to watch over a six-month period. After the credits roll on each title, they’re asked to fill out a survey, highlighting what they liked, hated, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. Netflix can use this feedback to tweak a show prior to release, making decisions in the edit bay and — possibly — even performing reshoots to better hit fan expectations.
It’s nothing new to the world of entertainment, though it does show a willingness on the company’s part to ensure its library of content is enjoyed by the largest group of people possible. Netflix does work with auteur filmmakers like Martin Scorcese to produce more intimate media, but it’s clear the streamer is on a quest to entertain the broadest audience it can. So the next time you can’t stand the latest hit binge-worthy original, it’s not just Netflix you’ll have to blame — it’s your fellow subscribers, too.
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