It’s clear that HBO Go and HBO Now make streaming convenient for HBO subscribers, but even though the company is known for its Game of Thrones content, massive ratings for the Chernobyl miniseries and a second season of Euphoria in the bag, the platform will need to keep pulling new features out of the bag if they want to remain a contender in the upcoming streaming wars.
With competitors such as Disney+ and Apple TV on the way, HBO will want to up the ante in terms of its performance, content and features, especially once HBO Max is launched. The premium cable network has done just that by launching a new tool which will prove powerful competition against one of Netflix’s key features.
The tool, which has been designed to both attract more streamers and persuade them to become subscribers, has been described as the Recommended By Humans feature. It allows people to stream over 50 free movies, documentaries and episodes from the company. People will be able to read endorsements and ratings from those who are already subscribed to HBO. This will enable them to find their next favorite HBO show based on recommendations from real people.
This feature is a strong challenger against the recommendations system seen with Netflix. According to the official Netflix site, the system works by finding you movies or shows to watch without having to browse and read through descriptions for too long. It generates conclusions about how likely you are to watch a certain title in the catalog based on factors such as interactions with other titles, other members who watch similar content, how long you watch content for, the devices you use and the time of day you watch.
