Enhance Netflix's monthly active user metrics

This is one of the illustrative challenges encountered during my tenure at a previous company, and it was my responsibility to identify solutions.

Problem statements

You're a PM at Netflix. Our key metric is Monthly Active Users (MAUs), where active is defined as having a paid subscription.

Our mission is to entertain the world. Whatever your taste, and no matter where you live, we give you access to best-in-class TV shows, movies, and documentaries. Our members control what they want to watch, when they want it, with no ads, in one simple subscription.

We have new research to suggest that most people do not know what they want to watch, and current viewership is declining. This in turn has negatively impacted on MAUs.

Task: What would you do to solve the problem?

You can assume that any solution you come up with is feasible from an engineering perspective.

My perspective on this is as follows:

Assumptions & Dependencies

As a Product Manager, I'm making certain assumptions to help me structure potential solutions, especially when I have limited information available. These assumptions act as a starting point for problem-solving and allow me to define the problem, consider various scenarios, and generate initial hypotheses.

“MAUs” negatively impacted when unsubscription count > new subscription count. My primary focus in this role is assisting existing members in discovering content that aligns with their preferences, with the aim of decreasing the churn rate. This task does not encompass strategies for acquiring new members.
I can explore the demographics of 'unsubscribed members' based on their age and location to tailor solutions accordingly. However, in this position, I consider the decline in general viewership as a common trend across countries, irrespective of age or gender.
There have been no recent developments or updates from competitors, such as Prime Video, Disney+, and YouTube, such as changes in their business models, in-app workflows, or the introduction of new app push notifications, that could have a substantial impact on Netflix's operations.

Success metrics

Success metrics provide a clear definition of what a successful solution and they help to set specific goals and objectives for the problem-solving process, ensuring people cab track and measure the progress as working towards a solution.

Reduce un-subscription by X%
Verified by the Netflix subscription records
Reduce un-subscription reasoned by “I don’t know what I want to watch” by Y%
Confirmed through the original research employed in the problem statement, which may include NPS surveys or similar methods.

Potential root causes with recommendations

Here are my findings after thoroughly investigating the issue on the Netflix platform. I've identified a couple of recommendations that can be instrumental in resolving this matter.

Investigations

Potential Solutions

User Stories

Are we seeing one particular device/platform that has an adnormally high amount of un-subscriptions?

Current Netflix app provides personalised recommendations in the app layout and push notifications.

(1) App has bug(s) which makes Netflix failed to present recommended contents, or present wrong content. (If this only happens in the recent X months).

(2) App layout on one of the platforms doesn’t have the ideal UI/UX helps to presents recommendations to users.

As the Product Manager, I aim to perform a regression test on the Netflix app to ensure that recent updates have not introduced any bugs that could disrupt the presentation of recommended content.

As the Product Manager, I aim to enhance the UI/UX design of the Netflix app to make recommended content more prominent and user-friendly for enhanced visibility and engagement.

Duration of membership

Are we seeing an abnormally high amount of un-subscriptions from relatively new members un-subscribe than those old members, or vice versa?

Review Netflix’s Recommendation algorithm and make sure it returns correct suggestions for members to watch.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/100639

For long-term members it’s mostly based on view history.

For new members when setting up their profile, review the process of how Neflix capture member’s preference.

As a new Netflix subscriber, I would like Netflix to show the movie description next to the poster when asking me to ‘choose 3 that I like’, so that I can correctly choose the movies I’m keen to watch.

Check the Email subscriptions / App push notifcation for the user account.

This is how members know “What’s on?” when they are not on the Netflix.

Check if significant number of members unsubscribed the Email notification. Understand the reason and fix.
Netflix’s reocmmendation algorithm doesn’t return appropriate suggestions. Fix in Point 2.

As the Netflix product manager, I would like the platform to ask for rating from members after they finish the movie so that the system can retrieve more member’s preference in order to adjust the recommendations

As the Netflix product manager, I would like the platform to ask movie-related questions to members (via push notifications) so that the system can retrieve more member’s preference in order to adjust the recommendations e.g.

#Are you a big fan of Christopher Nolan?

#How do you rate the recent superhero movies?

Does the app provide correct guidence for members to search for an entertainment they want?

(1) Usage of this function?

(2) Review the frequency of options selected.

Frequently selected → Members believed they can find content to watch but failed.
Least selected → Title is not attractive for members to select.
Compare with the Click/Conversion rate and get a more solid quantitative metrics.

Fix options: (1) Rename the Genres so it’s understood by most members. (2) Use a finer filtering for particular category.

As the Netflix Product Manager, I intend to explore alternative genre terms that are widely comprehensible to our end users, facilitating their selection of preferred content. Here are the revised genre labels: ..….

As the Netflix Product Manager, my goal is to extend the Genres category by introducing subcategories, enabling end users to easily find and select their preferred content. And here’s the subcategory list: ………

Seek for improvement in SEO.

(1) How frequent this search bar is used?

(2) Review the following parameter(s) and check if there’s any significant changes recently. Set a target and seek for improvement.

Click/Conversion rate
No result rate
No click rate
Average Click Position
Keywords synonyms

Does the app present enough information of the entertainment to attract members to select?

Entertainment list page
Hover over
“More info” pop up

Seek for improvement to the following parameters. Collect user rating and click rate and store as quantitative metrics in order to measure success.
(1) Thumbnail information
(2) Trailer quality
(3) Movie description in text.

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