Netflix is always looking for a better way to instantly connect users to something to watch, instead of wasting time scrolling through all available programming options unsuccessfully. Now, the company says that a recent test focused on solving this problem, Shuffle Play, has proven popular enough to be distributed to all users around the world.
In the streamer's Q4 2020 earnings, announced today, Netflix noted the product development only briefly. He was extensively referring to a test of a new feature that "gives members the ability to immediately choose to look at a title chosen just for them rather than browse." He also noted that the feature will reach all users around the world in the first half of 2021.
Netflix confirmed to ProWellTech that the test in question is Shuffle Play, which we first talked about in August 2020. However, the company tells us that the actual name of the feature is something that is still being tested.
Shuffle Play puts a big button right on the Netflix home screen, under your profile icon. When clicked, Netflix randomly plays content that its personalization algorithms think you will like. This could include a movie you are watching, something you have saved in your checklist, or a title similar to something you have already watched, for example.
A variation was also spotted in the navigation bar of the TV app sidebar. More recently, we found this sidebar option relabeled as "Shuffle" instead of "Play something" as before.
Also, when you start scrolling down through the Netflix home screen on your TV, you'll eventually come across a screen that explains what the option is for and points to the new button with a red arrow.
"Not sure what to watch?", This page asks, before explaining how shuffle works.
The button has already appeared on some users' Netflix app for TV devices, due to ongoing testing.
In its letter to shareholders, Netflix said that user response to Shuffle Play was positive, which is funny because the original responses to the feature on social media were decidedly mixed. However, the company does not make its decisions based on what to handful of tweets one time She said, but rather in how Netflix members actually used the product, of course.
Netflix also tells us that the feature is still only being tested on TV devices, not other platforms such as web or mobile. He declined to say how many users or what percentage had been admitted to the test to date.
Shuffle Play is the latest in a long series of tests where Netflix has tried to make it easier for you to find something to watch right away.
In 2019, for example, Netflix tried a shuffle mode that lets you click on a popular show to start playing a shuffle episode. It might have worked fine when users wanted to play a random episode of their default choice, like "The Office" or "Friends," but Netflix lost both.
It also promoted its shows on the login screen and as screensaver and notoriously auto-playing previews until last year, when it eventually succumbed to user requests for a way to disable it.
Overall, the goal is to make the Netflix experience closer to that of traditional TV, where you can turn on the set and start playing content.
Netflix says shuffle will roll out globally in the first half of 2021, but didn't share more specific details.
