Pragmatic Theory combined to form Bellkor 's Pragmatic Chaos , the first team to qualify for the prize on June 26 with a 10.05 percent improvement over Netflix 's existing algorithm . This triggered a 30-day window in which other teams were allowed to try to catch up -- and indeed , a team called The Ensemble , made up of lower-ranked contestants , submitted a higher score of 10.10 percent as time ran out -- a hair better than Bellkor 's Pragmatic Chaos ' final score of 10.09 percent . Before Sept. 21 , Netflix must decide -LRB- assuming they have n't done so already -RRB- which of the two qualifying teams has the best algorithm based on how they score on various undisclosed tests . The company must also determine whether the winning team 's results are reproducible , meaning that its algorithm handles new data as well as it did the test data . When we wrote about this last month , after the window for qualifying closed , Netflix declined to say whether it will reveal details about its methodology for picking the winner -LRB- whichever team loses , they 're going to want to know
-LRB- WIRED -RRB- -- For the past three years some of the world 's most resourceful software engineers and mathematicians have worked feverishly in the spirit of friendly , Darwinian competition -- and in pursuit of a $ 1 million prize -- to improve the Netflix movie recommendation system by 10 percent . Netflix says it will announce the winner of its $ 1 million Netflix Prize at an event September 21 . It 's been a long journey , but it 's almost over . Netflix said Tuesday it would announce the winner at an event in New York on Sept. 21 -- where details about the Netflix Prize 2 sequel would also be unveiled . As things stand now , nobody outside of Netflix knows which team will win the million-dollar prize , but the winning entry will power Netflix 's upcoming movie recommendation engine . Because nothing about the contest barred entrants from licensing their technology to companies other than Netflix , both qualifying teams could find plenty of licensees -- even if they come in second . And not much separates the two top teams . Teams Bellkor -LRB- AT&T Research -RRB- , Big Chaos and