How Netflix Is Fixing Hollywood

from the slowly-but-surely dept

Business 2.0 has apparently decided to rewrite a Wired article from last year that we posted, talking about how Netflix's recommendation engine was it's "secret weapon", against competition from Blockbuster and Walmart. This version also discusses the logistical nightmare of managing Netflix's ever-rotating inventory. However, the most interesting part (which I don't think gets enough attention) is the power that Netflix has in generating interest (and revenue!) in independent movies or movies that completely flopped at the box office. This is mainly due to the recommendation engine that hypes up movies that people have never heard of, giving many of them a second (if not first) life. This is the power of the internet that those in Hollywood still don't understand. In their simplistic top-down view of the world they only want to see big hits. Movies that they can sell across the board, based on a "lowest-common-denominator" formula. However, in the internet world the end users are empowered to find what they will really like, rather than blandly accepting what's handed to them. This changing world is likely to have an even bigger impact on Hollywood than the dreaded "digital distribution" they all seem to fear.