Phil Simon is an author and technology expert who gave a presentation on data visualization, big data, and how Netflix uses data to make better decisions. Some key points: - Netflix has over 40 million customers and is responsible for 1/3 of US weekday internet traffic. - Netflix has over 77,000 movie subgenres and uses customer watching data to identify new genres and make personalized recommendations. - Netflix believes data should be easy to access, discover, and process; and that visualizing data, even small datasets, makes it easier to explain.

1. @philsimon
Phil Simon
Thought Leader, Technology
Expert, & Author
Insight Address
“The Visual Organization: Data Visualization,
Big Data, & the Quest for Better Decisions”
“The Visual Organization”

2. Hi. I’m Phil.

3. Who am I?
@philsimon 3
• Award-winning author of six
books, most recently The
Visual Organization
• Speaker, consultant, and
technology expert
• Huge Breaking Bad fan (more
on that later)
@philsimon 3

4. @philsimon 4

5. Netflix Stats
• Roughly 40M customers
• Nearly $20B market cap
• Responsible for nearly one-
third of all US weeknight
Internet traffic
@philsimon 5
Data as of April 16, 2014

6. Netflix Facts
• Single biggest AWS customer
– 2012 Christmas day outage
• In September of 2013, Netflix became the first
non-TV network to win an Emmy for House of
Cards
@philsimon 6

7. @philsimon 7

8. The Netflix Data Credo - 1
• Data should be accessible,
easy to discover, and easy to
process for everyone.
@philsimon 8
Source: Netflix - tinyurl.com/tvo-netflix

9. Computers and Algorithms only get
you so far…
@philsimon 9

10. Augmenting Existing Data
@philsimon 10

11. @philsimon 11
• Comedies
• Dramas
• Westerns
• Documentaries
Move Far Beyond Simple Genres

12. 77,000 Subgenres of Movies
• Dark Suspenseful Sci-Fi Horror Movies
• Gritty Suspenseful Revenge Westerns
• Romantic Indian Crime Dramas
• Evil Kid Horror Movies
• Visually-Striking Goofy Action & Adventure
• Violent Suspenseful Action & Adventure from the 1980s
@philsimon 12
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

13. The Netflix Data Credo - 2
• The longer you take to find
the data, the less valuable
it becomes.
@philsimon 13

14. Example
@philsimon 14

15. Stats
50,000 Netflix subscribers
watched all 13 episodes of
Season 4 of Breaking Bad the
day before Season 5 premiered.
@philsimon 15
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

16. The Netflix Data Credo - 3
• Whether a dataset is large
or small, being able to
visualize it makes it easier
to explain.
@philsimon 16

17. @philsimon 17

18. @philsimon 18

19. @philsimon 19

20. @philsimon 20

21. What does Netflix know about each of its
40M streaming customers?
• What they watch
• When they watch
• The device on which they’re
watching
• When they pause and/or resume
watching
@philsimon 21

22. • He with the most data doesn’t win.
• In an era of Big Data, success hinges on what
an organization does with that information.
@philsimon 22

23. Characteristics of a Visual Organization
• Eschew “set it and forget it”
• Encourage data exploration and
discovery
• Augment creativity with troves of
relevant information
• Buy and build new tools as
necessary
@philsimon 23

24. 5 Lessons from the Book
• Big Data can augment and refine
creativity
• Experimentation is paramount
• Walk before you run
• Avoid the “quarterly visualization
mentality”
• All data is not required to begin
@philsimon 24

25. @philsimon 25

26. Connect with me
www.philsimon.com
@philsimon
@philsimon 26

27. Questions
@philsimon 27