Netflix subscribers may have long relied on user reviews to decide whether or not they want to spend their time on a new series or TV show but they will no longer be able to do that. The online streaming service hasn’t really paid attention to this feature for the past couple of years and it’s going to completely do away with user reviews by the end of this summer. User reviews will no longer be available on Netflix after that.
The user review system on Netflix was only accessible through the desktop version of the app. Not a lot of people have been using it recently which is probably one of the reasons why Netflix has decided to do away with it for good.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed via email that Netflix has started notifying users who have used the feature recently that user reviews will no longer be available on the website by mid-August. This means that users won’t even be able to read the reviews left by other users.
“This feature is only offered on the website and has seen declining usage over time,” added Netflix spokesperson Smita Saran.
This move doesn’t come as a surprise given that Netflix has gradually been pulling users away from the crowdsourced rating system. Back in April 2017, Netflix removed its five-star rating system and replaced it with a simple thumbs up/down experience. The new system was meant to further improve personalized recommendations for subscribers.