English Class 8 (01/04) – Teacher Vanessa Bertacini

VIDEO ACTIVITY:
“How to Use Data to Make a HIT TV Show”, a TED Talk by Sebastian
Wernicke
https://www.esltalkingpoints.com/discussion/ted-talk-discussion-how-to-use-
data-to-make-a-hit-tv-show/

Listening comprehension:
From 00:27 to 01:41
• How would you explain the graph showed by Wernicke?
From 02:03 to 03:49
• What was Price’s idea for deciding which new show Amazon should
make?
• Which show was it? Have you ever heard of “Alpha House”? Have you
watched it?
04:01 to 05:05
• Which show was it? Have you ever heard of “House of Cards”? Have you
watched it?
05:05 to 05:28
• Why do you think it worked well for Netflix but not for Amazon?
8:26 to 9:24
• What are the two parts mentioned on the video?
• If data and data analysis are not able to deal with the first part, what other
tool is?
9:24 to 10:46
• In the end, how could we explain Netflix’s success and Amazon’s failure?
Discussion:
• Can creative content be reduced to simple data analysis?
• Did the data analysis fail because people are hard to predict or because
the data collection was faulty?
• Which pieces of information do you think are used by Netflix to select
movies and create content?
 English Class 8 (01/04) – Teacher Vanessa Bertacini

How Netflix Uses Analytics To Select Movies, Create Content, and Make
Multimillion Dollar Decisions

“There are 33 million different versions of Netflix.”

– Joris Evers, Director of Global Communications

Here’s a look at some of the “events” Netflix tracks:

• When you pause, rewind, or fast forward

• What day you watch content
• What time you watch content
• Where you watch (zip code)
• What device you use to watch
• When you pause and leave content (and if you ever come back)
• The ratings given
• Searches
• Browsing and scrolling behavior
• Netflix also looks at data within movies. They take various “screen shots” to
look at “in the moment” characteristics. Netflix has confirmed they know
when the credits start rolling.

In 2011, Netflix outbid top television channels like HBO and AMC to earn the rights
for a U.S. version of House of Cards. Why did they make such a big bet, and how
did analytics factor into the decision?

Before green-lighting House of Cards, Netflix knew:

• A lot of users watched the David Fincher directed movie The Social
Network from beginning to end.
• The British version of “House of Cards” has been well watched.
• Those who watched the British version “House of Cards” also watched
Kevin Spacey films and/or films directed by David Fincher.

Netflix had a lot of users in all 3 factors.

With the data they have, they can make a “personalized trailer” for each type of
Netflix member, not a “one size fits all” trailer. Netflix made 10 different cuts of the
trailer for House of Cards, each geared toward different audiences. The trailer you
saw was based on your previous viewing behavior. If you watched a lot of Kevin
Spacey films, you saw a trailer featuring him. Those who watched a lot of movies
starring females saw a trailer featuring the women in the show. And David Fincher
fans saw a trailer featuring his touch.

Now you see how Netflix makes informed decisions based on data. Clearly, data
cannot make every decision; there are some situations where intuition has to take
over. For instance, data could not predict that a show like Breaking Bad would be
a success. The creator was a former writer on The X-Files, and dramas are 50/50.
In these cases, decisions are heavily based on the people and team behind the
idea of the show. Whether Netflix can make a successful show like this (one with
little to no data) is yet to be seen.

(Adapted from https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-netflix-uses-analytics/)