Streaming sites are tracking each click to keep you hooked

Even occasional visitors leave metadata clues, allowing OTTs to train algorithms for improved suggestions

- Lata Jha

Video streaming services are enhancing personalization algorithms to keep viewers hooked, including with bespoke home pages, not just to get users to subscribe and discover more content but also to target ads relevant to them.

Industry executives say people visiting a service even once a year or for marquee titles leave clues about themselves, including IP address and language preferences that can be used to train the algorithm to surface personalized content.