What Is Netflix Pressuring You To Watch?

A few weeks ago, pop culture and the internet as a whole stopped what it was doing to focus on one glorious thing. Why? Becasue Netflix released Stranger Things 2. Most subscribers had a great and dramatic streaming time, but if my viewing habits were solely dictated by what Netflix promotes for my profile, I wouldn’t have touched the global sensation until weeks later. Instead of promoting Stranger Things 2, Netflix encouraged me to watch its new documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.

This is certainly more a reflection of my own streaming habits than anything else. I’m much more likely to watch somber documentaries than fun sci-fi series on my Netflix account, and I probably will watch the Joan Didion original in the coming weeks. However, promoting a little-known documentary over one of the biggest shows of the year made me reflect on one of Netflix’s oddest habits as a streaming service. Netflix takes its recommendations very seriously, and when you don’t listen, it can get a bit pushy.

Over my many years as a Netflix subscriber, Netflix has made hundreds if not thousands of suggestions. Some I’ve taken and loved. After many, many prompts, I finally gave The Vampire Diaries, The Good Place, Broadchurch, and The Great British Bake Off a chance. All were excellent watches that filled me with the nerdy warmth only a great TV show can. Sometimes I took Netflix’s suggestions against my better judgement and the results were … well, they were fine. W1A, Peaky Blinders, and AJIN: Demi-Human were fun to watch, but I didn’t love any of these shows. Then there are the suggestions Netflix seems absolutely certain I will love and I’m equally certain I will not.

Photo: BBC

For months now, Netflix has been consistently promoting Haters Back Off, Friends From College, and Trailer Park Boys to me, three shows I am completely certain I will not be watching. Based on conversations with my Decider co-workers, Haters Back Off seems to come up a lot when it comes to aggressive suggestions. That’s not to say there isn’t an audience for these shows. We’re just not part of that audience.

I know this is partially my fault. If these pushy suggestions really bothered me, I could just click the “Thumbs Down” button, and Haters Back Off would disappear from my main feed. But as stupid as it sounds, I like to think of my interactions with Netflix’s algorithm as a relationship. I like that all of these show and movie suggestions are coming to me not because of anything I’ve explicitly told Netflix but because of how it’s grown to know me over my many years giving this company money. It’s a relationship that sounds incredibly creepy when I write it out, but it is what it is, odd analogies and all. So when Netflix completely misses the mark with my suggestions, it’s jarring. It’s like it doesn’t even know me after all the hours we’ve spent together.

I know I can’t be alone in this streaming phenomenon, so what about you? Are there any shows and movies that Netflix has been pressuring you to watch even though you absolutely will not watch them? Maybe you’re being flooded with British comedy suggestions after watching one episode of The IT Crowd. Maybe Netflix keeps forgetting the fact you hate serial killer dramas. Whatever it is, let us know in the comments or on Twitter.