This is a hugely important point. I'm completely uninterested in most netflix originals, but I understand why they're going to continue to recommend them to me.
As it is, these systems are just in-house banner ads in disguise, and as trustworthy as any other ad.
For a recommendation system to work in the interest of its users, its profits would have to be completely uncorrelated to the recommendations it gives. In a more sane world, platforms would have to accept such third-party recommendation systems as first-class citizens, to be used in lieu of whatever the platform offers.
That said, Amazon Prime video is so much worse. It suggests that I would like to watch series 1 of a show when I have watched it and am part way through season 2.
I've managed to binge-watch everything I liked in two months (while working full time remotely) and cancel Prime.
With such a small catalog suggestions will mostly be wrong, as there isn't enough content to fill the whole suggestions tab :)
Given that the former is a major engineering project, while the latter is a junior-level interview question, one has to assume they're trying to confuse their users on purpose.
