Netflix “Tagger” explained: Is it a real job?

If you’re an avid Netflix viewer, being a “Tagger” sounds like the perfect job; getting paid to watch hours of television of movies… what could be better? Well, here’s what you should know.

We all want to earn money for little-to-no effort, if not for doing something you genuinely enjoy – it’s just human nature (and a consequence of capitalism).

From time to time, companies put out ads for binge-watchers who’ll earn a payday in the low thousands for something incredibly simple, whether it’s watching the entire MCU, testing horror movies for their scare factor, or watching an advent calendar’s worth of Christmas movies. They’re essentially one-off freelance contracts; in other words, sadly, not a viable career path.

However, what if Netflix was in search of “Taggers” to stress-test their new shows, check their quality, and help categorize them? Wouldn’t that be an incredible opportunity?

The truth of Netflix’s “Tagger” job

Netflix does hire “Taggers” – but it’s not an easy side hustle to get into, nor is it as simple as people on TikTok would have you believe.

For example, in 2022 @ramonatheaffiliate shared a video claiming Netflix would pay you “up to $45 per hour” to work from home. In her words, you could make circa. $3000 every month for just two hours of work every day.

If it sounds too good to be true, on this occasion, it’s because it is. While Taggers do work at Netflix, it’s an exceedingly rare position and the exact pay rates haven’t been revealed.

A previous listing on Netflix’s official careers page explained the position, noting how Taggers are part of the streamer’s “enhanced content team.”

“Successful applicants will be responsible for watching and analyzing films and TV programmes that will be streaming on Netflix in the future. The tagger will deconstruct the films and programmes and describe them using objective tags,” it read.

“This ‘tagging process’ is the first stage of the Netflix recommendation system and works in concert with advanced algorithms that generate highly personalized suggestions for every one of Netflix’s nearly 50 million members, offering them an individualized set of titles matching their tastes.”

Crucially, enjoying Stranger Things and Squid Game doesn’t make you qualified for the job. You need to have a “passion for films and TV programmes, as evidenced by a degree in film or film history and/or experience directing, screening writing or filmmaking. Applicants with analysis experience (e.g. as a critic or work in development) would also be well suited.”

Todd Yellin, VP of Product Innovation at Netflix, earlier said (via Digital Spy): “They are wired up to watch titles which aren’t really necessarily on the service yet.

“The taggers are the taxonomists of Netflix. After they have finished watching the title, they will sit down for what usually takes less than an hour, to quickly browse through hundreds of tags and label the film.”

Here’s the important bit: unless you see a listing on Netflix’s job board or a trustworthy site like Indeed, you are being duped into a scam.