Netflix Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 that the streaming service is expanding into immersive and interactive experiences, starting with real-time voting. This move marks a new way for streamers to increase engagement as viewers of live shows can interact in real time.
Viewers can vote while watching live content to directly influence the outcome of what they’re watching on their TV or mobile device.
The company began testing real-time voting in August on its live cooking show “Dinner Time Live with David Chang,” and plans to roll it out to a reboot of its talent competition series “Star Search,” which has been off the air for 20 years and will return on Netflix next year.
“If you’re sitting at home watching ‘Star Search’ on your TV, whether it’s on your TV or your phone, you’ll actually be able to vote to advance or not advance some of the contestants on the show,” Stone said on the main stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Tuesday. “So this is just a very early starting example of how we think that over time, content will become more interactive across different devices, between TV and mobile, where members who subscribe to Netflix can actually feel like they’re part of the story and can influence the storyline and immerse themselves in it.”
Viewers will be prompted on-screen and have a limited amount of time to rate their performance. If you don’t rewind or catch up on the livestream, you may miss the voting period.
On “Dinner Time Live with David Chang,” viewers were asked to vote on whether they liked tuna or grilled cheese. In another example, I was asked if I thought soup was better than salad. Viewers can see the voting results displayed on the screen.
Netflix said that initial testing of real-time voting showed consistent engagement from episode to episode, which it believes indicates strong potential for more interactive entertainment in the future.
The streaming service says it’s focused on building more ways for viewers to feel involved in what they’re watching, so it’s working on enabling real-time responsiveness to content. As Netflix faces increased competition from other streaming services, the company is likely hoping its new interactive features will create a community-driven shared viewing experience for its members.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Netflix has considered real-time voting for its content. The streaming service previously tested interactive viewer polls on reality shows “Too Hot to Handle” and “Love Is Blind.”
In addition to live, Netflix is focusing on real-time responsiveness in forms such as new party games for TV and eventually podcasts, so users can be a part of what’s happening in the moment.
“Cloud gaming introduces another similar interaction pattern, and a lot of exciting things are happening,” Stone says. “So we’ve got some fun living room party games coming out in the fourth quarter of this year, and we’ve got a lot more coming next year. For example, Boggle. So it’s on your TV screen in your living room. You can use your phone to play locally with your friends and family. It’s another way to think about more immersive, fun, and in-the-moment content on top of traditional movies and TV. And of course we’ll continue to do this.”
Also on Tuesday, Stone announced that Netflix will launch an immersive experience on its homepage that the company says will bring content to life through animation and dynamic special effects. First, Netflix has launched a new Halloween collection of immersive experiences. Looking ahead, the company plans to launch a holiday collection in December, as well as collections leveraging IP such as “Bridgerton” in the future.
