The Fall/Winter 2025 lineup has been packed with great new shows. I’ve eagerly watched The Diplomat, Slow Horses, Welcome to Derry, Chad Powers, and of course, Alien: Earth! And it’s clear that streaming platforms are leaning hard into series launches and new seasons to increase viewer engagement and drive growth.
But here’s the problem: viewers are conditioned to search for “what’s new”, and platforms are less likely to look to their libraries as a competitive advantage – one that can serve up relevant content even if it’s not new.
It all comes back to discovery.
Without it, viewers default to premium services powered by advanced algorithms, and platforms using basic recommendations for niche or nostalgic content could lose before the competition starts.
The next phase of streaming won’t be won by who has the newest show – it’ll be won by who best understands what viewers want in the moment.
The Algorithm Beats the Budget
Netflix’s AI engine fuels about 80% of viewing and delivers an estimated $1 billion in annual value, showing how robust discovery can turn a content library into a powerful engine for engagement and loyalty.
Platforms built on deep catalogs (and not distracted by the new release marketing machine) can also leverage AI to help viewers discover the “right” content from what already exists in their library. And for the growing number of multi-service subscribers, data-informed discovery should work across the platforms they use, not just within one silo.
Catalog-driven platforms don’t need to compete on “what’s new” – they need to compete on “what’s right for you, right now.”
And that’s a battle AI can win.
Beyond Basic Recommendations
Ampere Analysis recently found that more people discover new content directly from streaming services, topping word-of-mouth suggestions.
Despite having this much influence on viewing behavior, many platforms still use collaborative filtering and basic watch history. But the streaming leaders are building emotionally intelligent systems that deliver:
- Context-aware recommendations (device, time of day)
- Mood detection (repeat watching, comfort titles, binging)
- Behavioral cohorts (rom-com lovers, kids-first households, the sampler)
- Real-time cultural signals (TikTok spikes, new content drops, in-the-news stories)
Which points to a gap: very few platforms are effectively tapping into external web signals. If a viewer is searching for “best 90s thrillers” or engaging with long-form derived shorts content, that behavior should inform what they see when they open your app. We can do this today.
But sophisticated recommendations require sophisticated metadata. Platforms need to move beyond basic genre tags to enrich their catalogs with mood, themes, pacing, emotional tone, and narrative elements – deeper attributes that actually drive viewer satisfaction.
These capabilities can deepen engagement, reduce churn and support value delivery.
What It Takes to Win
The value proposition can shift from “we have thousands of titles” to “we always know what you want.” This requires:
- Treating AI infrastructure as a core differentiator – not a feature, but the foundation of competitive positioning
- Mining engagement data for insights and direction – watch patterns, interaction behaviors, and consumption signals that reveal true preferences
- Cross-platform data integration – connecting viewing behavior with broader digital footprints (with privacy controls)
- Rich metadata enrichment – tagging content beyond genre with mood, themes, pacing, tone, and narrative elements that enable nuanced matching
- Continuous testing and learning – refine what actually drives engagement and retention
Platforms that nail this won’t just reduce churn, they’ll fundamentally change the perception of what library content delivers. They’ll prove that “what’s right” beats “what’s new” every time.
The Window Is Closing
The competitive advantage is moving to content intelligence. As viewers become more subscription-fatigued and selective, the platforms that solve discovery first will win big. Wait, and you’ll be the service with great shows nobody watches.
Learn more about how AI Studio can help.