Netflix Will Launch A New Shuffle Play Feature This Year

Netflix confirmed it will launch a “Shuffle Play” feature in the first half of 2021, after testing the feature discreetly last year.

When will we ever be ready to let Netflix choose what we’ll watch?

Rumor had it Netflix could soon release a new feature that lets users stream content randomly. Today Variety reported that the company had officially announced the new Shuffle Play feature as part of its latest financial results.

Netflix had actually begun testing Shuffle Play last fall. The feature picks content based on your viewing history instead of having to scroll back and forth on Netflix’s overwhelming home screen.

Netflix’s COO and chief product officer Greg Peters explained that the feature is designed for users to “indicate to us that they just want to skip browsing entirely, click one button and we’ll pick a title for them just to instantly play.”

Despite the feature being announced, it seems Netflix has not quite coined the name yet. During its earnings presentation, co-CEO Reed Hastings joked that they might call it “I’m Feeling Lucky,” after the Google search feature that skips straight to the top search result. Greg Peters, however, quickly shut down this possibility: “We’re going to come up with something better than that, so stand by for this. You’ll see it when it rolls out,” he said.

The new feature is clearly intended to help streamers find new content that they will like without going through the trouble of finding it ourselves among the thousands of titles available on the service.

So, are you feeling lucky?

Interesting new feature @netflix … but what kind of insane person just says, “yolo, let’s spin the Netflix wheel of fortune” pic.twitter.com/6WDJrmd7pG
— Turner Levison (@TurnerLevison) August 18, 2020