I can see the logic, but IMHO it doesn’t work.
It’s the same thing I see on Amazon and other places. You buy a few things, and they start shoveling more of the same at you.
Except it’s not really the same, because what you liked about it isn’t what they’re matching on. Or you only buy that stuff as gifts for other people/watched that because you had family visiting.
Or, simply, you’re bored and want to move on to something else.
“Based on your preferences” turns into this vise to crush the interest out of you.
Also, I think the Netflix CEO is being a liiiitle disingenuous when he says recommendations are based on viewing history. Netflix has recommended every single Netflix-produced show to me as it was released, including stuff I would never watch, like talk shows.
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It’s almost never the right thing to do on Amazon. “Hey, you just bought this lawnmower. I bet you’d like to buy these four other lawnmowers!”
“Instead of buying one acoustic guitar stand, why not subscribe to periodic deliveries of acoustic guitar stands?”
Presumably, this actually works at some level and makes them money, or they wouldn’t keep doing it… right? 
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I think it’s more like one of the things Don Norman talks about in The Design of Everyday Things: it works enough that the people in charge of such things that they think it’s successful, and they’re unable to perceive all the customer annoyance it causes – or at least not well enough to do anything about it.
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As someone put it: I just bought cat food. Now is not the time to advertise cat food. Now is the time to advertise cat litter.
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