In an effort to have its viewers spend less time scanning and more time streaming, Netflix on Wednesday launched a new feature that’ll pick new shows and movies for its customers, based on their preferences.
Flummoxed subscribers can now click the “Play Something” button whenever they want Netflix to make a streaming pick for them. The button can be found in multiple spots: underneath a subscriber’s profile name, the 10th row on their Netflix homepage, and on the navigation menu on the left of the screen.
The first click will offer up a movie or TV show based on content you’ve watched in the past. If the first option doesn’t look good, subscribers can click again and Netflix will hit them with either a) a brand new show or movie b) a show or movie they’ve recently been streaming c) a series or movie that’s on their list or d) an unfinished show or movie they may want to go back and revisit.
Play Something will rollout globally on TV devices starting on Wednesday, and the mobile button will begin testing “soon,” according to Netflix.
“There are times when we just don’t want to make decisions. A Friday evening after a long work week. A fridge full of food but nothing jumps out. A family movie night where no one can agree. We’ve all been there,” Cameron Johnson, Netflix’s director of product innovation, said in a blog post.
“Sometimes you just want to open Netflix and dive right into a new story. That’s why we’ve created Play Something, an exciting new way to kick back and watch.”
And if this new feature sounds familiar, that’s because Netflix has tested features that make content picks for subscribers in the past.
Netflix’s new feature debuts a week after the company reported it added 4 million new subscribers during the first quarter — or 2 million less than Netflix had estimated. The new subscribers pushed Netflix to 207.6 million subscribers overall.
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