Yahoo Finance Netflix launches a new way to find shows with its 'Category Hub' for TV viewers
Today, Netflix announced it is refreshing its TV interface with a new feature called the "Category Hub" in its TV app's menu.
This hub can be found in the left-hand menu on both kids' and adults' profiles and will introduce your personalized "Top 3" categories. It will also include curated collections based on holidays such as International Women's Day, Earth Day and so on. General categories that are globally popular will be included as well -- like action, comedy, drama, horror and anime, among others.
In total, there will be around 70 categories featured in Category Hub, which not only includes the personalized Top 3 and 15 globally popular categories, but also an additional 55 categories that are locally relevant (not all categories are available in every country).
This update will shuffle categories to an order that is customized to individual users. We don't know how broad or specific these recommendations will be, so it will be interesting to see how it works as the hub rolls out.
Netflix's user interface changes often, and just last week, the company introduced a "Two Thumbs Up" button, which they most likely need as an ego boost after this week's earnings. (Too soon?).
The company often experiments with how it can help users find a show or movie to watch.
Last fall, for instance, it added a shuffle mode feature called Play Something designed to help undecided users find something new to watch.
Another recent update was specifically for Apple TV users, which was automatically installed for most customers. The tvOS 15 player now displays Netflix shows and movie titles in a larger type on the bottom of the screen located above the playback bar. Other updates include a new information button that shows content details, subtitles, run time and more. It also eliminated the swipe-down functionality.
There is something to be said about these additions, as user experience has become increasingly important due to an oversaturated market and higher intensity of competition.