Netflix Experiments With a “Shuffle Play” Button, But Who Is It For?

• Netflix calls overwhelmed content consumers to just click on the Shuffle button to enjoy whatever it throws on them.
• The streaming platform is experimenting with ways to make finding and watching content easier.
• Some users are perplexed by the existence of this new option and don’t see any logical explanation for it.

Netflix has started experimenting with a new “Shuffle Play” button, introducing a feature that many people may find weird for a streaming platform. Also, the button is positioned right under the user profile icon on the greeting screen, so a user wouldn’t even have to enter the interface at all.

You just click on it and get to watch whatever luck has chosen for you. Of course, the randomness of the system may not be all over the place, as people could get something based on their tastes.

Netflix is keeping track of what each user likes to watch, so they could deliver stuff from a list of recommendations from each user. Whatever the case and however will this work in practice, many users are perplexed about the button’s usefulness.

Why would anyone embrace chaos and just let Netflix serve random stuff instead of selecting what you want to enjoy? Undoubtedly, this is a valid question to ask, but there is a surprisingly large number of people who would welcome this new feature.

Interesting new feature @netflix ... but what kind of insane person just says, “yolo, let’s spin the Netflix wheel of fortune” pic.twitter.com/6WDJrmd7pG

— TLev (@TurnerLevison) August 18, 2020

Indecisive people who spend hours looking for something good to watch would be absolved from the “Shuffle Play.” For many, Netflix is like visiting a video club in the old days, where you would spend a ridiculous amount of time to check all shelves, consider the options, recheck everything, discuss the options with other visitors and/or the store owner, do another round, consider things again, and finally pick something to take home with you.

For many people, choosing something to watch is bringing them unmanageable anxiety as they are overwhelmed by the many options they are given. Unfortunately, streaming platforms like Netflix cannot address this by reducing the number of available movies and series, so they’re experimenting with alternative methods.

https://twitter.com/Chabz_Classic/status/1283035310763515905

This is still in its testing phase, so we can’t say for sure if Netflix will actually introduce Shuffle Play for everyone or not. If the testers embrace the new button, maybe more people will get to enjoy it or get confused by its purpose, depending on how you see things.

Related: Netflix Introduces User Profile PINs and Parental Controls

To us, this feature sounds like a good idea, but the user should be able to set some parameters like the content category, genre, episode length, language, age group suitability, etc. It would also be nice if the users would not be served content that they had already watched on the platform. Not having any filter options and just clicking on “random” feels far from ideal.