Netflix Has Been Secretly Screening Movies, TV Shows Months in Advance for Subscriber Feedback (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix has quietly been getting member feedback on original content — ahead of its public release — for about a year.Since May 2021, the streamer has been reaching out to small groups of subscribers with a proposition: The company is inviting them to participate in a panel to provide feedback on Netflix’s upcoming movies and TV shows before they’re released publicly.“We at Netflix are building a community of members to view and give feedback on upcoming movies and series, and we’d like to know if you’re interested in being a part of it,” according to a recent email sent to a group of subscribers, a copy of which was obtained by Variety. “It’s simple, but an incredibly important part of creating best-in-class content for you and Netflix members all around the world.” Netflix confirmed that it has been running the subscriber-feedback panels, which have taken place only in the U.S.Such focus-group testing is commonplace in Hollywood and has been for years.

And Netflix routinely tests new features with a subset of its customer base as part of its product development process. For example, it conducted extensive testing before last year’s broad rollout of Play Something, a shuffle-play feature that picks a title for someone to watch based on their viewing history and watch lists.

In addition, as is standard industry practice, Netflix provides prerelease screeners to entertainment critics.For the customer-feedback panels, Netflix asks members to watch several upcoming movies and series over the course of about six months.

After they finishing watching each movie or series, members fill out a survey “to tell us what you liked, what you didn’t, how you’d make it even better, or how likely you’d be.