Here’s the real meaning behind those rating stars on Netflix

It's not based on what we thought.

Netflix is truly a great facility which many of us would be lost without. The streaming service has many of our favourite shows, films and documentaries (old and new) that makes hitting the couch at the weekend a whole lot more tempting. Earlier this week we found out how we can request any TV show or film on Netflix which, if you're a real couch potato you may be better off without knowing about. The latest update we've gotten regarding the streaming service is that the stars on a programme don't actually mean what we thought. Instead of the stars indicating how many people voted the programme or show in question, it turns out the stars ranked onscreen actually represents what users who have similar Netflix tastes as you thought of the film or TV show. According to BGR, the ranking of films and TV shows differ for everyone as each item is ranked differently on a different Netflix on a computer or console. So if I were to type in "Breaking Bad" and it were rated 3 stars for me, for someone else it may be rated 5 as they have different tastes to me. As it says on the Netflix website, we are shown things on the streaming service by the means of an algorithm.

"We offer thousands of titles to stream -- that’s a lot! When you rate movies and TV shows, you're helping us filter through the thousands of selections to get a better idea of what you'd like to watch.

How does it all work? We use a recommendation algorithm that takes certain factors into consideration, such as:

• The genres of movies and TV shows available.
• Your streaming history, and previous ratings you’ve made.
• The combined ratings of all Netflix members who have similar tastes in titles to you."