Netflix Geography: A Shiny Toy
The New York Times provides a fascinating visualization of Netflix data: maps of movie rentals for 12 cities in the U.S.
Pick a film (they're sorted alphabetically, or by popularity, or by critical acclaim) and a city. Get a map showing the neighborhoods where people want to watch that film.
Mouse over a zipcode, and get a list of the most popular films in that zipcode, and the ranking of the film you're studying. Compare its popularity in Miami, Chicago, and New York.
Mad Men Season 1 neighborhoods are very distinct from neighborhoods where Lakeview Terrace did well. And so forth. People across the blogosphere are trying to teasing out class, taste, and ethnic distinctions. Here's an example from the Times itself.
Here's an interesting critique of apparent flaws in the infographic.
It's not clear whether the map is plotting actual rentals of DVDs, or the instances of a title in queues (the list of desired films a viewer is waiting for).
It's suspicious that very recent films, available on DVD for only a few months of the past year, show up as terrifically popular. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the most popular title in the database, yet it was only the 20th in box office gross among films released in 2008.