Netflix User Profiles To Tame Multi-User Recommendations This Summer

Netflix finally intends to add multiple user accounts to a single subscription, ending the days of your kids' favorite shows skewing your action movie recommendations. The system is expected to launch sometime this summer, Netflix VP of Product Innovation Todd Yellin told Yahoo News, and will split users off into different profiles so as to keep their recommendations more accurate.

According to Yellin, Netflix is still working out the fundamentals of the system. However, it's expected to allow for five or six different profiles attached to a single Netflix subscription, with any two of which allowed to be actively streaming content at any one time.

In a prototype iPad interface, shown above, Netflix laid out the different profiles in a straightforward row, with avatar support. When the app is opened, either on a tablet or smartphone, on a computer, or through a set-top box, the viewer would choose their avatar and then what they watch would only affect the suggested content Netflix shows them.

Netflix has faced some pressure to cut down on users sharing their passwords with others, with an estimated 10m users borrowing the login credentials of friends or family in order to access the on-demand service. That, though, is not something Netflix CEO Reed Hastings believes needs actively addressing, though the company has revealed it will be offering "family plans."

Those plans will double the number of simultaneously supported streaming devices to four, allowing more people to watch different content at the same time. It's possible that this new user profile system is tied into that functionality as well.

VIA Gizmodo