Netflix Will Remove Written Reviews Soon

Netflix will soon remove a feature that was only available to desktop users: the option to read and write reviews.

In an email circulated on Thursday, first reported by CNET, Netflix said that it's getting rid of the written-reviews feature because it "has seen declining usage over time".

The feature will be rolled away in stages. Subscribers will be unable to post new reviews starting Monday, July 30. Existing reviews will then disappear from Netflix sometime in mid-August, the email said.

"We have notified members who have used the feature recently," Netflix added in its statement.

The removal of written reviews will have no impact on your recommendations as they were not used to generate them, a Netflix spokesperson said.

Considering these reviews could be written and seen only on the Netflix website, it's unlikely this will have as much as an impact – or attract as much controversy – as the previous change to the review system.

In March last year, Netflix announced that it was moving away from the five-stars rating system in favour of a more streamlined thumbs-up or thumbs-down offering.

As with every new feature on Netflix, it had been part of an A/B test and the latter had come out as a winner, with the number of ratings going up by 200 percent.

Netflix's latest A/B test involves a new higher-priced tier called Ultra, which is being offered to users in Europe. It takes away features such as HDR and more simultaneous streams from lower-priced tiers, essentially a sign of Netflix testing how much viewers value them.