Sometimes, I think Netflix is listening to the conversations I have in my life.
Either that, or the algorithm they use to recommend shows is 10% science and 90% black magic.
The movies that pop up on my Netflix home screen are almost always movies I’ve long wanted to watch; recommendations from my personal Netflix boffin who picks and chooses any films that might be right for me.*
Here’s the problem.
That little recommendations bar can only fit about 15 titles. If you scroll down, sure, there are genres and sub-genres showcasing a few more.
But… where are the rest?
Listen to Laura Brodnik and Holly Wainwright explain all the amazing new TV shows you should be watching right now on The Binge. Post continues after audio.
Netflix has tens of thousands of titles in its back-catalogue. We see a few hundred of them.
And if you want to find the rest… where do you start? What do you search? We can’t search what we don’t know. And the ‘browse’ section only has seventeen genres.
So basically, we’re all left asking the same question…
Where are all the romantic Japanese Indie horror cartoons?
Well.
We’ve trawled the internet in search of the secret numeric codes that will unlock every single genre and title Netflix has. And we’re going to show you how to use them.
How it works.
Log into Netflix.
Type this into your browser’s toolbar: www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XXXX
XXXX represents the numeric code of a very niche, very specific genre. ‘9875’ is Crime Documentaries. ‘5455’ is Movies for ages 5 to 7.
Top Comments
Why are the non english speaking movies and shows mixed in with everything else instead of having their own genre. When you pick a movie you think you might like to watch and start it only to find out it is not in english. That's a lot of wasted time.
These movies aren't hidden. What would be the benefit for Netflix of them hiding so much of their library and then only allowing it to be accessed with fiddly codes that are not widely advertised? If you're willing to scroll through those seventeen genres, I can guarantee all the movies would be in at least one of them. These codes are useful if you're looking for a really specific type of movie but you're not going to see anything that you wouldn't see in any of the main genres.