Netflix’s Paid Couch Potatoes

We all love Netflix and pay the monthly fee, thankful to have the freedom to watch our favorite shows on our TV’s, phones, tablets, gaming consoles, etc.  But did you know that Netflix pays a select few people to be a Netflix couch potato?  Can you imagine someone asking you, what do you do?  And you reply, “I watch TV all day…and get paid for it!”  It’s a couch potato’s dream!

So why does Netflix pay people do sit and watch Netflix all day?  To enhance the viewer’s experience.  Netflix’s team of couch potatoes are paid to be active listeners.  Their job is to help classify and tag each TV show, movie, and documentary that they watch.

For example, tags like “mental illness,” “infidelity,” “dancing,” “depression,” “finding love,” and “recovery” are applied to shows/movies/documentaries so Netflix can group like films together and based on what you enjoy watching, they will serve up recommendations for you.

In the picture above you can see based on watching The Muppet Movie and Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Netflix served up other family adventures from the 1980’s.  Netflix’s paid couch potatoes must have classified these movies as family adventures.

I loved The Mouse and the Motorcycle as a kid and of course, anything Muppets, so these recommendations are very relevant and saved me a large amount of time in trying to decide what is a good family movie to watch.

You see more recommendations pop up after you’ve added a movie to your queue.  Here, I added Good Morning, Vietnam.  It’s a great movie and a good remembrance of the great Robin Williams.  You can see suggestions are pulled up based on tags of having to do with war or other movies with Robin Williams in it.  With so many movies being added to Netflix all the time, it’s nearly impossible to know when one of your favorites…or one you’ve been dying to see has been added.

Tags help bubble up to the surface movies and shows that are relevant to you.  You see, a Netflix paid couch potato doesn’t need to know you for Netflix to personalize the experience, but they do need to use all the respective tags so Netflix’s intense algorithms can serve up shows and movies that interest you.

Paid Couch Potatoes

CBS recently interviewed one of Netflix’s paid couch potatoes to get his take on his job and show further how vital his work is in making the user experience unique and relevant.  It’s no surprise, he loves his job…and you can’t  beat the commute!  If this video doesn’t display for you in your region, you can see it here on CBS.

If you haven’t begin using the Netflix profiles – available for each member of the family, you should.  Based on what’s watched, similar recommendations will be served up.  If you want relevant movies and shows recommended to you, make sure your daughter’s “Barbie, Life in the Dream House,” and son’s “The Croods” shows aren’t watched in your profile!  Set them up with their own Netflix profile so they too will received relevant recommendations based on what they watch.

A Mom’s Perspective

If you’re jumping up and down for this exclusive Netflix paid couch potato job, it will likely help you loose some weight, but not much more than that.  I checked out Netflix’s job website to see if they are currently recruiting any “taggers.”  My job search came up empty.  I contacted Netflix and chatted with a customer service rep who said they had seen a job for a “tagger” in Europe (since Netflix recently announced expansion plans there), but he has not seen one in the US.  Probably because these coveted positions fill fast and word of mouth is all that is necessary to fill one of these positions!

Nonetheless, we all benefit from the “tuned in” attention of Netflix paid couch potatoes.  Oh, and don’t forget to periodically rate Netflix shows & movies in the “Taste Profile” menu option at the top of the screen. This is yet another way Netflix serves up relevant recommendations to you based on the tagged words associated with each movie.

So, if you haven’t turned on Netflix is a bit, fire it up and see what new and relevant movie & TV show suggestions are awaiting you!  Enjoy!

*    I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team and was provided with streaming service for my time. All thoughts and opinions are my own.