Google is going to tell you what TV shows and movies you want to watch

By Melissa Locker

Google collects a lot of data on its users, and now it’s finally using its powers for good. Instead of just serving you ads for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Wet Wipes, the company is going to start using its vast stores of collected data to tell you what the heck you want to watch on TV.

Google announced today that it is adding personalized TV and movie recommendations to search. That means the next time you have exhausted your Netflix queue and worked your way through all 136 items on our Creative Calendar while waiting for the next episode of Succession to drop, you can turn to Google to desperately search “good shows to watch” or “what to watch,” and a list of options will magically appear.

Taking a page from Tinder, Google will let users swipe left or right on a carousel-style menu of TV shows and movies to better match you with your new favorite content. Google says that it’ll be able to curate those suggestions based on what you search: Ask for “horror movies from the ’80s,” for example, and you’ll get recommendations specifically for that.

Once it gets a sense of what you like, it will make recommendations and even curate broader themes like “horror movies from the 80s” (just watch Teeth instead) or “adventure documentaries about climbing” (Free Solo or bust), making movie night a snap.

One feature that will be particularly helpful in the very near future when every content company has its own streaming service is that Google will let users select which streaming services they subscribe to and will then take that into account when suggesting shows and movies. It’ll also use that data to give quick links to watch immediately. Google’s foray into TV and movie recommendations is bad news for JustWatch, which already provides a similar service, because Google is Google, and having that option built right in to search is just too darn easy.

The new recommendation feature kicks off today. And just for the record, Google, that Caillou marathon was a one-time thing.


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