Netflix today is launching a new feature that will allow users to interact with live content through voting. The streaming company said the option will be available with the premiere of its live-streamed talent show “Star Search” on January 20.
Subscribers will be able to either pick a selection from a multiple-choice menu or rate someone’s performance on a scale of five stars. Votes can be cast using either a TV remote or the Netflix app.
Netflix said that the feature will work globally, and on the backend, the platform will tally votes in real-time. Viewers will have a limited time to vote, and once that time has lapsed, additional votes won’t count. That means if you’re watching the show later, you can’t participate in the voting.
The streamer started testing live voting in August 2025 with “Dinner Time Live with David Chang.” During TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, the company’s CTO, Elizabeth Stone, confirmed that the company would soon launch the feature widely.
“If you’re sitting at home watching ‘Star Search’ on your TV, you’ll be able to either on the TV or your mobile phone actually put in a vote that advances or doesn’t advance some of the contestants on the show,” Stone had said.
“So it’s just a very early starting example of the ways that we think content can be more interactive over time, across devices, between TV and mobile, where a member who subscribes to Netflix can actually feel like they’re part of the story, influence the storyline, and feel immersed in that.”
Netflix has heavily leaned in to live content with shows like “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney” and “Dinner Time Live with David Chang,” along with sports broadcasts, including the NFL Christmas special and WWE shows. In October, the company launched interactive games that people can play on their smart TVs. Netflix is now merging both these threads into one by launching live voting.
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Originally published at TechCrunch
