Netflix Denies Tailoring Its Movie Promotions Based on Race [View all]

Netflix Inc., criticized for its marketing practices, denied that it tailors the promotions of movies and TV shows based on the race of viewers.

Netflix users have complained that the service is trying to manipulate them into watching certain programs by touting secondary characters that are the same race as the viewer. Several black subscribers cited a thumbnail image for the movie “Like Father” that featured African-American performers Leonard Ouzts and Blaire Brooks -- even though the movie stars two white actors (Kelsey Grammer and Kristen Bell). “These actors had maaaaaybe a 10 cumulative minutes of screen time. 20 lines between them, tops.”

The company denied that it was serving thumbnails based on race. But Netflix has been open about constantly testing which images convince users to watch a program. Different viewers see different thumbnails depending on their streaming history, and they’ll often see different promotions for the same show if previous thumbnails didn’t convince them to watch.

“We seek to be great at inclusion, across many dimensions, and these incidents show we are uneven at best,” Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in June. “We have already started to engage outside experts to help us learn faster.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-22/netflix-denies-tailoring-movie-promotions-based-on-users-race?srnd=premium