Netflix Reports Global Response to Its $1 Million Prize to Promote Progress in Recommendation Systems

Netflix Reports Global Response to Its $1 Million Prize to Promote Progress in Recommendation Systems

More Than 9,900 Contestants From 99 Countries in One Week

LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, today said more than 9,900 contestants representing more than 8,100 teams from 99 countries have signed up to vie for the $1 million Netflix Prize since the competition was announced one week ago.

To date, the prize has attracted competitors from more than 200 universities and numerous corporations from around the world. In addition, several government laboratories from the U.S. and other nations have joined the competition.

The company said it already has received 82 valid submissions.

Netflix is offering one million dollars to the first person or team who can achieve certain accuracy goals in recommending movies based on personal preferences. 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 beyond a one percent improvement by October 2007. The progress prize will be awarded annually until someone wins the grand prize.

The company said only one of the 82 current submissions has qualified for the 2007 progress prize, having the minimum one percent improvement over the current Netflix recommendation system. Submissions can continue to qualify for the 2007 progress prize through October of 2007.

Complete details for registering and competing for the Netflix Prize are available at www.netflixprize.com. Contestants and other interested parties may check the status of entries at www.netflixprize.com/leaderboard.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc. is the world's largest online movie rental service, providing more than five million subscribers access to over 65,000 DVD titles. The company offers a variety of subscription plans, starting at $5.99 a month. There are no due dates, no late fees and no shipping fees. DVDs are delivered for free by the USPS from regional shipping centers located throughout the United States. Netflix can reach more than 90 percent of it subscribers with generally one business-day delivery. Netflix offers personalized movie recommendations to its members and has more than one billion movie ratings. Netflix also allows members to share and recommend movies to one another through its Friends(SM) feature. For more information, visit www.netflix.com.

FCMN Contact: ltran@netflix.com

Source: Netflix, Inc.

CONTACT: Steve Swasey, Director, Corporate Communications of Netflix,
+1-408-540-3947, or cell, +1-925-899-8108

Web site: http://www.netflix.com/

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