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With 301.6 million subscribers across 190+ countries, Netflix isn’t just a streaming platform anymore. It’s a data company that happens to produce entertainment.
Think of your patterns on Netflix.
Every time you hit play, pause, rewind, or scroll past a title, Netflix is learning from your behaviour. The company processes billions of events daily from user interactions.
This dynamic data + real-time learning and testing make Netflix one of the biggest entertainment enterprises.
In today's AI at the Top, we will learn how Netflix uses AI to personalise your experience, decide what shows to produce, and deliver content without buffering.
Data has been Netflix’s foundation since Day 1
Netflix has been obsessed with data long before AI became mainstream.
Remember when Netflix was mailing DVDs? Even then, they tracked which movies you rented, how long you kept them, and what you rated them.
When streaming launched in 2007 (it was called Watch Now back then), that data collection exploded. Today Netflix tracks what you watch, how long you watch before stopping, what thumbnails you click on, and whether you binge or spread episodes out.
This real-time behavioral data is what makes Netflix’s AI effective. Similar to how Starbucks used its mobile app to understand customer preferences, Netflix built its entire business on knowing what you want to watch before you do.