Netflix on Thursday (April 21) debuted its “Category Hub” in its TV menu, a change designed to allow members to find their favorite genres as well as new categories in a single space.
In an announcement posted on its website, the embattled streaming giant said the hub is now available on the left-hand menu on both adult and kids’ profiles, with a personalized top three categories based on what viewers regularly watch.
The hub will also include curated collections to celebrate holidays like Earth Day or International Women’s Day, along with popular categories like anime, drama, and children and family for when viewers are in the mood to try something different.
“Think of this Category Hub as a more lively version of our old Categories row that’s tailored to your tastes and makes finding what to watch that much more simple (and fun!),” writes Mansi Desai, Netflix’s senior software engineer.
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The news comes days after Netflix reported losing subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, the first such drop it’s seen in a decade.
Writing to shareholders Tuesday (April 19), the streaming service cited high penetration numbers, especially when considering the large number of households that share accounts, for the losses.
“The big COVID boost to streaming obscured the picture until recently,” the letter said.
Last month, the company rolled out new paid account sharing features in March to offset losses from sharing. Now, it says it’s considering advertising.
Read more: Disney+, Netflix Look to Ads as Streaming Market Slows Down
“I have been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription, but … I am a bigger fan of consumer choice,” CEO Reed Hastings said on an earnings call Tuesday. And allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price, and are advertising-tolerant, get what they want, makes a lot of sense.”
Hastings also said an ad-supported version of Netflix is a year or two away: “It’s pretty clear that it’s working for Hulu. Disney’s doing it. HBO did it. I don’t think we have a lot of doubt that it works. All those companies have figured it out.”
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