The Netflix Prize: how to build a better adaptive movie matching system

Mon Oct 02 15:05:49 -0700 2006
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The Netflix Prize is a contest slated to start on October 2 this year and continue to run for quite a while. The goal is to improve the predictive metrics Netflix uses to suggest movies to users based on previous viewing information. $50,000 prize each year, and a $1,000,000 grand prize for a demonstrable 10% improvement.

This is a very nice problem set for anyone interested in the various mechanisms associated with meta-data analysis - they give you their current algorithms and a nice sample data set when you register. As far as I am concerned, the potential prize is just icing on the cake. Good real world problems with well defined success criteria are always a treat.