Netflix has launched a new personalised tab called ‘My Netflix’ to help mobile users quickly find and stream titles they previously interacted with. Dubbed a ‘one-stop shop tailored to you’, the feature acts as a shortcut or a dedicated space composed of any downloads, web series, or films that you gave a thumbs up to, things saved to My List, and reminders of any show you stopped watching midway. The idea is to make browsing through the app easier, only showing stuff you have manually showed interest in, rather than bombarding you with related suggestions. The My Netflix tab is now live on Apple iOS devices, and will roll out on Android in early August.
The My Netflix tab replaces the current Downloads tab, in an attempt to reduce the amount of time needed to browse through the streaming giant’s algorithmically driven content suggestions. Users can still visit the Home tab and other sections as usual if they were looking for something new, though I’m worried this could adversely affect the My Netflix section. The official blog post from Netflix mentions that any ‘trailers you’ve watched’ would also appear in the new tab. By default, Netflix has preview trailers enabled for its entire catalogue, which auto-plays when you linger on its page for a couple of seconds. My concern is whether those seconds are enough to be considered as quantifiable watch time, and if yes, would that be enough to render this new feature slightly useless.
“Keep in mind that the more you interact with and tell Netflix what you like, such as saving more action-thrillers like Extraction 2 to My List or giving a thumbs up to every season of Bridgerton, the more you’ll see on the My Netflix tab,” Netflix said in its blog. The streaming giant has always strived to make its service easier to use, which in turn would help with an increased subscriber count — such as being able to speed up content on certain devices.
Some of its recent steps, however, have been controversial, as the company placed restrictions on account and password sharing in several countries in May, followed by India just last week. Netflix states that an account is only meant for use by one household, with members outside it being asked to transfer their profile to a new subscription.
The days of splitting Netflix bills between friends or relatives are now over, as the company will now ask for verification codes every 31 days and track IP addresses to log out secondary account holders from Netflix. Users in India also won’t be able to avail the ‘extra member’ option, which lets the primary account holder add up to one additional user to their account at a slightly higher monthly subscription price. A press release from data analytics firm YouGov suggests that half of urban Indians (51 percent) are willing to pay an extra fee — lesser than a standard Netflix subscription — to be able to share their account with friends or family residing elsewhere. Existing Netflix subscribers also share the sentiment, with 61 percent preferring an add-on option to a fresh subscription.
The stats also show that a ‘majority of Indians’ are open to subscribing to streaming platforms on a short-term daily or weekly basis, which makes perfect sense to binge-watch a show or a platform-exclusive movie release, without having to pay for the entire month when you know you don’t need it. Earlier this week, Netflix reported its Q2 earnings, revealing that it climbed by nearly 6 million new subscriptions for a total of 238 million subscribers, amidst the whole password crackdown drama.
The My Netflix tab is out now on iOS and starts rolling out on Android in early August.
