Humans are creatures which concentrate on the world that can be seen. Visual satisfaction is one of the factors that influence our daily lives. Many people say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but, for Netflix, its value is measured in millions of dollars. The company invests annually about 7 billion dollars in the personalized experiences for their users.

What are thumbnails? They are a preview of a series or movie, which have the sole purpose of convincing the user to watch the product presented. Thumbnails are one of the most popular marketing strategies, used by companies and by content creators as well. According to internal studies, a typical user spends 1.8 seconds considering each title, and Netflix estimates that it only takes 90 seconds for the title to get its attention before moving on to another one. This is exactly why Netflix created AVA (Aesthetic Visual Analysis), a mechanism which helps create the personalized thumbnails. But what does AVA actually do?

It’s a set of instruments and algorithms which searches for images and frameworks in movies and series, in order to create thumbnails. This process can be broken down in two main steps, the first one being observing the frameworks. A program analyzes each framework out of a movie / series and image recognition algorithms use information gathered from each photo to create metadata. The metadata is like an electronic fingerprint - identifying unique features for each video frame. The second step is a process called image classification, which includes an algorithm using metadata to select specific photos that Netflix has determined to be the most attractive: those that are clear, have varied imagery, feature main characters, and do not contain unauthorized product placements.

Once they are created, Netflix uses an algorithm called A / B Testing that assigns each user custom thumbnails. What does A / B Testing mean? It's a process that displays thumbnails based on your favorite genre of movies and the actors you love. Take the movie "Good Will Hunting" starring Robin Williams and Matt Damon as an example. When you think of Robin Williams, you are thinking of comedy movies. If your favorite genre is comedy, then you will see a thumbnail with it him the foreground. On the other hand, if you like romantic movies, a scene with Matt Damon and his character's girlfriend will appear.

However, no matter how hard Netflix tries to give you personalized thumbnails, you still waste a lot of time looking for something to watch. This is what many psychologists call the "Paradox of Choice". Therefore, the more options you have, the harder it is for you to only choose one option. A study revealed that a Netflix subscriber spends about 85 hours a year trying to find a movie/ series to watch.

Although Netflix uses these complex marketing strategies, the paradoxical effect hinders them, causing them to constantly update their techniques. How will these strategies evolve? Did you know what's going on behind the biggest streaming platform in the world?

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editorial: Sofia Ene, Natalia Velea-Grumezea

translation: Sofia Ene, Natalia Velea-Grumezea

graphic design: Bianca Constantin,

Anastasia Chivu

DP (desktop publishing): Andreea Seba