Netflix could be expanding its use of AI as new patent reveals plans to offer more personalized trailers

Netflix logo on TV screen with viewer holding remote control
(Image credit: Shutterstock / MAXSHOT.PL)

If you're a Netflix customer, you'll be all too familiar with the streamer's library and how it's set up. Currently, there's a row at the top screen labelled 'We think you'll love these", featuring a lineup of recommendations based on your viewing habits. For example, mine is mostly made up of horrors and thrillers, so there's a very obvious theme going on here. But Netflix is hoping to improve the personalized experience even more, by delivering movie or TV show trailers that are more suited to your taste.

We all know the viewing library can be overwhelming, and even if you're consulting our lists of the best Netflix shows and best Netflix movies, it can still be hard to choose what to watch. Netflix is hoping to make the experience better by getting viewers sucked into trailers that are tailored to them, instead of serving the same one to everyone. Instead of focusing on one huge show, say Squid Game season 2, viewers would watch trailers based on their own watching history instead.

How it would work

To further explain this, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a 24-page document that details Netflix’s plan. This system would select different clips and arrange them in a custom order based on what it thinks you'd like, based on your watch history and titles you've 'liked'. It would then create a 'playgraph' that determines the order in which these clips are played.

In order for this graph to stay relevant, it will change over time based on what you've been enjoying. So if you've found yourself watching a lot of comedy movies lately, you'd notice that you were being shown more comedy titles. It would learn from you and make your experience better, in theory.

This is all part of Netflix's plans to help you navigate its ever-growing library, with this news coming after Netflix tested major changes that’ll make finding new movies and shows so much easier back in the summer.

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Lucy Buglass
Senior Entertainment Writer

Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd. 

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