Netflix launched a new two-thumb rating system on Monday, rolling out across its mobile and smart TV apps and across the web.
There are now three ranking choices for a title. Thumbs down means the titles will no longer be recommended. A thumbs up means the service will recommend similar content. But the new two-thumbs-up note, which translates to a “Love it!” note, means “we know you’re a real fan”, according to the Netflix mobile app
netflix said Protocol he had been working on this new rating system for about 1.5 years, after feedback from subscribers indicated that the existing “like” and “dislike” rating system was not good enough.
“We were hearing members say that ‘liking’ and ‘disliking’ weren’t good enough,” said Christine Doig-Cardet, Netflix’s head of its custom UI product innovation team, speaking to to Protocol. “There were shows that they really, really, really enjoyed. It was important to differentiate between what they liked and what they liked.
The streaming service tested both a heart and two thumbs-up option through a series of A/B tests last summer and fall. The heart is how you “like” on Twitter and is also popular on Facebook, so Netflix thinks this idea would win out, over the two thumbs up option, which in the past has been made popular by many famous film critics. Siskel and Ebert.
The test results? The two-thumbs-up note scored higher than the heart, surprising Netflix designers.
As of this writing, the new two-thumb scoring system is live in Canada on the web (as you can see in our screenshot above), but the iOS app doesn’t show it. Again ; that should change shortly this week.
