Netflix recently announced the creation of the Netflix Prize, an award of one million dollars to the first person who can achieve certain accuracy goals in recommending movies based on personal preferences. The company also made available to contestants 100 million anonymous movie ratings ranging from one to five stars, the largest such data set ever released.
Netflix said it will publish a detailed description of the winning approach for the benefit of companies, entrepreneurs and academicians.
"Recommendation systems covering a wide variety of categories will play an increasingly significant commercial role in the future," said Netflix Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings. "Right now, we're driving the Model T version of what is possible. We want to build a Ferrari and establishing the Netflix Prize is a first step."
The threshold required to win the Netflix Prize is a 10 percent improvement in accuracy over the current Netflix recommendation system. If no one wins the grand prize this year, the company said it will award a $50,000 progress prize to whoever makes the most significant advancement toward the goal and will award a progress prize annually until someone wins the grand prize.
For more information, check out the New York Times article And if You Liked the Movie, a Netflix Contest May Reward You Handsomely.
