I have always been fascinated by the tags that Netflix uses to categorize their shows and movies.
Yes, they use “Comedy,” “Drama,” “Crime,” “Thriller,” etc. But every so often they will throw in a word not usually used by the TV or film industries. Like “Slick” or “Offbeat.”
John Koblin of the New York Times does a nice job explaining the tagging system at Netflix.
I assumed those tags were more about the analytics. That they needed to expand the entertainment and literary taxonomy to better analyze audience metrics. Maybe they can better serve up recommendations if they know who likes “Witty” stories as opposed to just “Comedy.”
Koblin explains that by displaying those tags, Netflix can increase engagement — get someone to watch more shows.
My takeaway is that more information can increase engagement.
