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Netflix has changed its rating system from stars to a simple thumbs up or down, in a move it says will help it give personalised suggestions to users.
The video streaming service said changing the rating system to positive or negative options will make it easier to hide things users are not interested in and promote those they are keen to see.
The new system will begin gradually rolling out to all users from Wednesday.
“We are retiring our five-star rating system and replacing it with a simpler and more intuitive thumbs-up and thumbs-down,” Netflix said in a blog post.
“A thumbs-up tells Netflix that you like something and want to see similar suggestions. A thumbs-down lets us know you aren’t interested in watching that title and we should stop suggesting it to you.
“You can still search for it, but we’ve heard what you were trying to tell us – you aren’t a fan – and it will no longer show up on your homepage.”
As well as the new thumbs up and down, Netflix says it is introducing a new Match system that will appear next to each item on the site, offering a percentage of how likely it thinks it is you’ll like the programme or movie in question.
“The % Match is based solely on our algorithms analysing your individual viewing habits and behaviour – it is not a measure of overall popularity across the service,” Netflix said.
The change, which is now live, has also led to more users actively getting involved in submitting ratings, Netflix said, with the streaming service claiming it saw a 200% increase in ratings activity among early testers.
