Check fatigue, Netflix virus

Comedy, adventure, or documentary? Is the new German series in the top ten, or real crime Which friend recommended between reeds and talks? It may be a better choice for repeating loop mode than the desk that defines half of the universe.

The average citizen is faced with about 35,000 choices daily, to which is added another: deciding which program will accompany him during his vacation. Choice is synonymous with hard work. The endless possibilities that are created, and the consequent solutions depending on which path you choose to go down, are a mix of choices that end up satisfying the brain, the user, and the platforms they have to provide services.

“It’s called the paradox of choice,” he says. independent Elena Nera, Professor of Open University of Catalonia and author Broadcasting Wars: The New TV. “When a person has to estimate many references, our decision-making capacity is greatly reduced,” he adds.

When a person has to estimate many references, the ability to make a decision is reduced »

Elena Naira, Educator and Author, Expert in Streaming Platforms

Decision fatigue, therefore, becomes a scourge that ends up ruining watch hours on platforms ساعات flow, although the giant has already come to this conclusion Netflix 2016: If in a period of 60-90 seconds the user has not been able to find something interesting on the platform, the risk of leaving the service may increase.

According to Neira, “The whole structure of the recommendation (from Netflix) was based on the conviction that decision-making power is inversely proportional to volume of content, that is, the higher the volume, the lower the decision-making power,” the UOC professor. “You collapse, you feel exhausted.”

random eyeliner

Don’t look for your next story: let it find you. This is how Netflix announced its rebirth: play something (play something), a tool that allows the platform to randomly choose content to display, thus “helping” reluctant people navigate through a sea of ​​endless options.

“In those moments when our members don’t feel like researching or choosing what to watch, Reproducer algo gives them the option to instantly discover and reproduce a series or movie,” company sources say about the medium. giant sShout He asserts that the new tool seeks to make life easier for the customer: “We always strive to improve their experience and make it easier for them to find content that entertains them.”

“Platforms learn how to create more engaging content and, above all, strategies and campaigns on social networks so that they have specific content that resonates when users enter the platform,” explains Elena Nera.

author running wars, the random Netflix button “brings us back to the state of the analog TVs where you saw what I put on you”, but play something It is not the only solution aimed at improvement link with contents. The rating One of the most watched series and movies in every country is also a “strategy to attract the viewer’s attention and give play“,” points to Neira, who also considers that “Netflix is ​​full of little tricks that push us to formalize our viewing choice.”

Play Something brings us back to the analog TVs where you saw what they put on you »

Elena Naira, Educator and Author, Expert in Streaming Platforms

Useful confinement and frequent worry

March has become, quite innocently, a month flow. With half the world locked up at home, Netflix introduced August. During that month alone, the content platform saw paid subscriptions to its service: The California giant added 15.9 million new subscribers, an absolute record.

Big Hetazos How tiger king They recorded a number of views on the platform, which watched as the audience consumed hours of viewing after hours of viewing, burdened by the need to stay at home. More than a year later, the situation appears to have reversed: «We are tired of seeing content in flow Because we spent a lot of time wasting it, and perhaps the concept of not having new content also contributes to the difficulty in making the decision,” explains Neira.

Does the tool respond? play something, Not only because of the difficulty of deciding among a wide range of opportunities, but also because of the general fatigue of audiovisual content on the platforms?

“It’s not a concern now, but it’s always been there,” the UOC professor responded in reference to something she sees as not exclusive to Netflix: “It worries Netflix, it worries Amazon, it worries Spotify, it worries everyone who devote themselves to it.”

Although it is an issue that equally affects new forms of digital consumption, Neira considers Netflix to have two special characteristics that make monitoring the activity of its users an essential element of its strategy: “Netflix is ​​the platform that, on the one hand, has more catalog, and on the other hand, it has It has already developed a technological architecture and the knowledge of its users from surveillance.”

The solutions born to facilitate viewing are the platforms’ response to an analysis in which both Netflix and alternatives saw “we end up like a headless chicken because we are unable to make a decision”.