Netflix has launched an enhanced version of its downloads feature worldwide, to make discovering your next favorite show easier for users. This new feature downloads the first few episodes of recommended shows and movies for every profile of your Netflix account to your mobile, when connected to Wi-fi.
The feature, which had been in testing for the later part of 2020, has now been launched for all Android users, and will soon be launched for iOS as well. Users have freedom to choose the space that will be used for these downloads from 1 to 5 GB, which will be separate from manually downloaded show. This is essentially a build on to Netflix’s Smart download feature which deleted watched episodes and downloaded the next few of the web series, launched in 2018. But this goes a step further, making it easier for undecided users who have come to the platform, to choose a new series to watch, even in poor network connection.
During an earnings call in January, Greg Peters, Netflix’s chief product officer had commented that sometimes users just come to the service and “they are not really sure what they want to watch. So we’ve had the opportunity to try new mechanisms to sort of help our members in that particular state.”
Now Patrick Flemming, Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation, has said in a statement, “We’re excited to introduce Downloads for You. People who choose this new feature will have shows or movies automatically downloaded to their devices, with recommendations based on their tastes. We want to make discovering your next new favorite series or film even easier, whether you’re connected or not.”
The downloads are based on your tastes, which Netflix will judge through previously watched shows and trailers. This feature can be big for people in trains or flights, who have time on hand and often don’t have a good internet connection. This would also be beneficial in countries like India, where a good wi-fi is unpredictable and can become faulty without warning. At such time, even with low bandwidth, one can now discover and watch fresh content on the Netflix app and even stream it to TVs. This gives Netflix an edge over other competitors in India including Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
