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Netflix Prize Winner to Be Determined by Fractions of a Point

by Warren Riddle on July 28, 2009 at 09:25 AM




After a vicious, three-year battle royale, Netflix finally closed its statistics geek algorithm contest Sunday. The Netflix Prize competition pitted teams of competitors against one another in hopes of improving the appropriateness and accuracy of the site's movie recommendations feature.

While the results have not yet been finalized, a virtually unknown underdog emerged at the last minute to apparently claim victory. Netflix had established as the contest goal a 10-percent improvement score, which team BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos accomplished last month when it hit the 10.08-percent mark. But, with a 30-day deadline implemented, dark horse challenger The Ensemble emerged out of nowhere to throw down a 10.09 with less than 24 hours remaining.


BellKor, though, refused to relent, tying the percentage with under a half-hour to go in the contest, according to TechCrunch. Shocking the statistics world, Ensemble somehow retaliated with a 10.10 with mere minutes remaining, thus staking its claim to the $1 million prize.

Results from a secretive portion of the contest, which helps determine the actual winner, haven't been released yet, so Netflix says it will crown a champion in a few weeks. While the wait is still on, we can only hope that the new algorithm will finally remove 'Paul Blart' and 'Mama Mia' from that ridiculous "Movies You'll Love" assemblage. [From: Netflix and TechCrunch]

Tags: algorithm, movies, netflix, netflix prize, NetflixPrize, top

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