A Peek Into Netflix Queues

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 9, 2010 @06:06PM from the i-know-what-you-watched-last-summer dept.

margaret writes "The New York Times has an interactive Web app where you can map the popularity of various Netflix titles by neighborhood, in a dozen different cities. Invasion of privacy or harmless voyeuristic fun? Either way, it's pretty interesting."

30 of 113 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

porn? by iamagloworm · 2010-01-09 18:10 · Score: 2, Insightful

porn, now that's where it'd get interesting...
1. Re:porn? by dangitman · 2010-01-09 18:16 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I'm surprised by Debbie Does Dallas being relatively unpopular in Dallas, but quite popular in Houston. Go figure.
  
  --
  ... and then they built the supercollider.
Interesting relationship by Spykk · 2010-01-09 18:17 · Score: 3, Interesting

Anyone else notice that Knowing's rank seems inversely proportional to Rachel Getting Married's rank?
Re:This just proves... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-09 18:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

I can think of so many better things to be doing with my time than looking at what people are renting based on their ZIP code.
Does whining on Slashdot really count as something better?
Intesting how College area is way off by piltdownman84 · 2010-01-09 18:43 · Score: 3, Interesting

Looking at the Seattle map one interesting thing stands out for me. The rentals in the zip code of Seattle University seems completely different then everywhere else. What is interesting that ' pseudo intellectual' movies that you would think would be more popular, Milk, Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, are relatively low in this area of learning, while mindless movies, Role Models, House Bunny, where the most popular.
1. Re:Intesting how College area is way off by RU1DT · 2010-01-09 18:46 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Or maybe you're presuming too much about people based on their ZIP code.
2. Re:Intesting how College area is way off by kannibal_klown · 2010-01-09 19:19 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Looking at the Seattle map one interesting thing stands out for me. The rentals in the zip code of Seattle University seems completely different then everywhere else. What is interesting that ' pseudo intellectual' movies that you would think would be more popular, Milk, Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, are relatively low in this area of learning, while mindless movies, Role Models, House Bunny, where the most popular.
  I don't find it odd.
  It's just anecdotal, but after a stressful day/week of courses and exams I found myself wanting to unwind and relax with a fun and mindless flick instead of a high quality film.
  Don't get me wrong, I would still enjoy cerebral movies back then but not as frequently as a silly comedy or mindless action flick.
  A mindless entertainment was a good way to unwind, plus you could watch it and laugh together with friends.
  ---------------
  I guess it's somewhat like my reading habits. I enjoy reading and do it fairly often now, likewise I read a fair amount back in high school.
  However in college I was already reading every day for multiple hours for my various courses, so the last thing I after I put down my textbook was pick up yet another book.
3. Re:Intesting how College area is way off by Kjella · 2010-01-09 19:51 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Well, if we're already speculating you may also speculate if you are seeing a biased sample of the student population. At least many of the technically minded students I knew would see no need for a Netflix subscription...
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
4. Re:Intesting how College area is way off by HouseOfMisterE · 2010-01-09 20:17 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I'm not sure about Milk or Frost/Nixon, but there was a DVD screener for Benjamin Button available for download months before the retail DVD was released. That may have measurably impacted rentals in a college ZIP code area. Or not, who knows?
5. Re:Intesting how College area is way off by linzeal · 2010-01-09 21:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  More intelligent poor folk are pirates. Who has money for Netflix when you are living off Ramen and Peanut Butter?
  
  --
  An Education is the Font of All Liberty
cultural information by phantomfive · 2010-01-09 18:49 · Score: 4, Interesting

You can use it as an indication of how different regions feel about homosexuality by looking at the rental patterns for Milk (no link, sorry, you'll have to click through the movies until you find it). It was a lot more popular on the west side of the bay than the east side, which also matched voting patterns for proposition 8 (the west side was a lot more strongly opposed to it). In Boston it seems like they are a lot more open minded, except in area code 02126. Don't know what happened there.

Strangely enough, Milk is in the top 3 movies in San Francisco in every area except the Castro. Try explaining that one if you can.

--
Qxe4
1. Re:cultural information by romiz · 2010-01-09 18:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Strangely enough, Milk is in the top 3 movies in San Francisco in every area except the Castro. Try explaining that one if you can.
  Compared to other areas, the residents bought the disk, so they don't need to rent it as much?
2. Re:cultural information by Eric+in+SF · 2010-01-09 18:58 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Everyone in the neighborhood saw it in the theatre and so didn't need to rent it from Netflix.
  We saw it at the Castro theatre about halfway through its total run and it was a full upper balcony sellout. It really was an important film to see as together as a community and I was glad to have taken part in what I felt was a community viewing.
3. Re:cultural information by StreetStealth · 2010-01-09 19:15 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  That's actually really interesting to consider -- You could think of Netflix popularity as a band pass of the full spectrum of movie popularity. Imagine a few graphs for other channels that signify different levels of investment: theatrical viewing and DVD purchase above rental, cable viewing below it, and torrenting at the bottom. Now imagine these distributions overlaid on top of each other. I wonder what that graph would look like...
  
  --
  Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
4. Re:cultural information by zsimic · 2010-01-09 19:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  And then, you can take it to the next level: stats on which zip code examined which other zip code stats... The possibilities are endless: - which zip code is the most "self absorbed", (ie looked at its own stats) - which zip code is the most popular (stats looked up by other zip codes) - which zip code has the most self-confidence problems (looked at other zip codes' stats more than their own..) - which zip code is the most popular homophobic (stats most looked up by other zip codes, while the renting trend of homo movies is high) - and so on
5. Re:cultural information by Vellmont · 2010-01-09 19:26 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  You may be a little bit confused. Milk is a movie about the first openly gay elected official in the US, who was later assassinated (along with the mayor) by another elected official. It's not really a "gay" movie any more than Malcolm X was a "black" movie.
  It might be the mainstream thing as you say. But looking at my own city I do note that the more liberal areas of the city are far more likely to be watching Milk than the more conservative parts.
  
  --
  AccountKiller
6. Re:cultural information by Runaway1956 · 2010-01-09 21:07 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Or, it could be, everyone in Castro STARRED in the damned thing, and they can't bear to watch it again?
  
  --
  "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
7. Re:cultural information by gbjbaanb · 2010-01-10 03:14 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  yes, but if you can drag yourself away from your narcissism, you'll find your girlfriend not only loves love stories, but love stories about sad relationships between 2 seriously hot men ('cos the movie-makers are always going to make a story about gay relationships involving 2 muscular cowboys rather than 2 fat nerds), and it also has the added attraction of some man-on-man action.
  So you'd expect homosexual love stories can appeal to heterosexuals. Just like you wouldn't mind going to see 2 hot lesbian chicks fall in love (oh, you've already seen that one, yeah me too ;)
  Also a lot of heterosexual and homosexual people just like movies, sometimes you want something intellectually stimulating even if it has a gender-related subplot you still watch it for the main plot. OK, love stories don't fall into this category so much, but Milk (for example) may have a gay subplot but that's not what the story is about. Just like you can watch Malcolm X in an entirely white neighbourhood.
8. Re:cultural information by JoeMerchant · 2010-01-10 04:11 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The "Milk compliment" would be Fireproof, a highly conservative movie which seemed to only go over big in Atlanta and Dallas.
9. Re:cultural information by JoeMerchant · 2010-01-10 04:12 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  You meta-moderate on Slashdot, I can tell.
10. Re:cultural information by rekoil · 2010-01-10 04:18 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The "Milk compliment" would be Fireproof, a highly conservative movie which seemed to only go over big in Atlanta and Dallas.
  Note that for Atlanta, "Fireproof" was most popular among the southern exurbs, confirming every rural stereotype held by the typical ITP* Atlantan.
  * ITP = Inside The Perimeter, the local nickname for the I-285 bypass.
Re:This just proves... by MarkvW · 2010-01-09 19:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

Marketing people care. You'd better believe they care!
You're kidding, right? by mforbes · 2010-01-09 20:04 · Score: 5, Insightful

Invasion of privacy or harmless voyeuristic fun?
What invasion of privacy? They're not showing what any particular person rented, just what the aggregate in a given area liked. If this is invasion of privacy, then so is any demographic statistic saying, for instance, that New Yorkers like hot dogs from a stand on the street or the baseball stadium over that cooked at home.

--
Allegedly real newspaper headline from 1998:
Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge
Re:This just proves... by PitaBred · 2010-01-09 20:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

Say you have kids. Those concentrations can give you a very good idea about where there are other people who have kids, so you can look at those neighborhoods. Especially if you're moving to a new city or something.

--
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Re:This just proves... by Runaway1956 · 2010-01-09 20:59 · Score: 3, Funny

"Some people like demographics."
Apparently, some people like masturbation as well. That doesn't mean they shouldn't get a life.

--
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Large differences in some areas... by drZool · 2010-01-09 21:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

Could perhaps be explained by europeans using VPN accounts in these areas to access netflix.
No, YOU are kidding, right? by Zero__Kelvin · 2010-01-10 00:10 · Score: 5, Funny

"Any information published about your habits erodes your privacy, whether you see it or not.
Letter to the Editor @ NY Times:

Dear Sir,

I find it highly innappropriate that you have made my personal information available via your website!

Sincerely,

Dr. Sanfransisco Bayarea

--
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Re:This just proves... by Arthur+Grumbine · 2010-01-10 04:55 · Score: 2, Funny

Trolls read articles and write custom trolls now? Wow.
That's why I don't RTFA. I don't want to risk ending up a troll.

--
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Re:This just proves... by arminw · 2010-01-10 05:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

...I don't want to risk ending up a troll....
The Slashdot moderation system is broken, totally ruined. It seems that anyone who posts anything controversial, to which the majority of Slashdot readers disagree, gets modded troll or flamebait. On the other hand, obscenity and profanity often gets modded insightful. I have gotten to the point where I don't give a hoot if every one of my posts gets modded down, just because I often post opinions to which the majority disagrees.
By refraining to speak your mind, just because you don't want to be modded down, you're helping prop up a broken system.

--
All theory is gray
Re:This just proves... by Z34107 · 2010-01-10 19:04 · Score: 3, Funny

Is there a web site showing the demographics of masturbating?
Any solid-color map you have ever seen does. The one color represents 100% of the population. These are called relief maps.

--
DATABASE WOW WOW