Netflix announced today a $1 million bounty for any programmer who can improve its recommendation system. The contest is intended to help Netflix maintain its competitive edge over Blockbuster, while also strengthening community relations.
The Netflix Prize seeks to substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about how much someone is going to love a movie based on their movie preferences. Improve it enough and you win one (or more) Prizes. Winning the Netflix Prize improves our ability to connect people to the movies they love.
The competition launches on Monday. To win, one must fully develop improved methods of better discerning customers’ tastes. If there is not a discernible winner, Netflix will pay $10,000 annually to the developer who has made the most progress by year’s end.
If you’re not one of those programming inclined individuals, you can still follow along from home. We should start a betting pool.
Netflix offers $1 Million As Prize Money [Newlaunches.com]