Product Manager Interview Prep - Netflix Feature Ideas and Improvements

Hi there! I have an upcoming product manager interview coming up and I need some help brainstorming ideas. The question is about Netflix and what they could improve or add to their platform. I’m looking for different viewpoints from actual users. Have you noticed any annoying issues when using Netflix? Maybe features that other streaming services have that Netflix is missing? Or just general improvements you think would make the experience better? Any thoughts would be super helpful for my interview prep. Thanks everyone!

Netflix’s subtitle handling drives me absolutely crazy. They’re constantly out of sync or disappear during important scenes. My girlfriend’s deaf, so we’re always rewinding when the captions glitch out. The mobile app’s annoying too - can’t adjust playback speed like YouTube, and downloads expire way too fast. Was on a long flight last month and half my downloaded shows were suddenly gone. They need to let you extend download periods or at least warn you better before stuff expires.

lol netflix thinks throwing more true crime documentaries at us will solve everything. meanwhile their video quality randomly drops to potato mode even with good internet. hulu figured out how to show you what’s leaving next month - not rocket science. and dont get me started on their ‘skip intro’ button that works maybe 60% of the time. also why tf does netflix homepage look completely different for everyone? my roommate gets totally different suggestions despite similar viewing habits. feels like they’re just throwing darts at a board with their algorithms tbh

the biggest missin piece is a decent watchlist. I add stuff to ‘my list’ but it gets buried under all the netlix originals they keep pushing. auto-play previews are annoying as hell - nobody asked for that. give us a toggle to turn it off. the rating system is trash too. bring back 5-star ratings instead of this thumbs up/down garbage.

Netflix’s content discovery is pretty broken. You end up seeing the same shows in every category, which gets old fast. They need better filters - let me search by IMDB ratings or content warnings like Amazon Prime does. And why did they remove user reviews? Now I can’t tell if something’s worth watching. A watch party feature would be great too. People spend 18 minutes just browsing - that’s way too long. The whole search and category system needs an overhaul.

Good luck with your interview! Netflix really needs offline viewing for Smart TVs and better international content organization. Their Korean shows are incredible but you have to dig through tons of menus to find them!

Netflix needs to fix their content retention system. It’s super frustrating when you’re halfway through a show and it just vanishes without warning. They should add “leaving soon” notifications so we can actually finish what we started. Their algorithm also buries older movies to push new releases, which means you’ll never find great films from past decades unless you specifically search for them. A “deep catalog” feature highlighting hidden gems would be amazing. The parental controls are pretty basic too - parents need customizable profiles with time limits and content restrictions for each kid. And why can’t they sync “continue watching” across family profiles? I can’t count how many times someone accidentally watched from the wrong profile and messed up everyone’s progress.