Humanity's Greatest Challenge: What to Watch Next

Remember when "Thursday night! Are you mental? Friends is on!" was a perfectly acceptable reason to reschedule social engagements? Those quaint days of scheduled viewing and their stranglehold on our social lives seem long gone. In their place, we now face the most significant challenge humankind has ever faced: deciding what to watch next.

TiVo's Video Trends Report reveals that the average household juggles an astonishing 8.8 streaming services. Our streams have become rivers, and we're drowning in choice, with more content than we could watch in a hundred lifetimes. It's the epitome of a first-world problem but one that cannot be ignored.

Enter Apple, quietly but strategically positioning itself as the solution to this existential crisis. As the battle for our limited attention spans rages on, Apple aims to become the remote controller of our viewing habits. And we all know that whoever holds the remote is king.

But let's take a step back and examine the viewing landscape that's led us to this point:

Greedy Piggies: Binge Culture

Gone are the days of waiting a week for the next episode of your favourite show. Binge-watching is the new normal, with viewers devouring entire seasons in a single session. Interestingly, some shows (House of the Dragon, for example) have reverted to the weekly release model, but let's face it: waiting is a dirty word in our world of instant gratification.

An interesting social consequence is a new minefield of potential plot revelations. What was once a staple of water cooler conversation starting with "Did you watch?" is now prefixed with "What episode are you on?" and with the unspoken understanding that spoilers are now the highest social faux pas.

To make matters worse, we've created a content treadmill that keeps accelerating. The more and the faster we watch, the greater the pressing need to find new content becomes. Finishing a series used to bring a sense of accomplishment; now, it's more likely to induce panic as we frantically search for our next binge-worthy obsession.

Cohabitation: The Mistake That Binds

The recent launch of Disney+, yet another "must-have" streaming service stuffed with a seemingly never-ending back catalogue of classics, has added even more stress to the equation, particularly if you share your world (and remote) with the tiny, sticky hands of a toddler.

However, not just negotiating with children makes things more complicated. We must also avoid the temptation to commit the unforgivable act of watching ahead. Marriages have ended, and friendships have been irrevocably damaged, all because someone couldn't resist finding out what happened next without their viewing partner.

The Holy Grail of Search

With content spread across multiple platforms, searching has become a Herculean task. "What was it called?" "Is that on STAN or Prime?". This is where Apple sees its opportunity.

Mr. Cook's strategy is clear: position Apple TV, and more importantly, its search function, as the Google of television content. By consolidating different streaming libraries and providing a single source of truth, Apple aims to solve the "what to watch next" conundrum. It's a brilliant move. After all, utility and a refined user navigation experience will win over an endless scroll.

But only some people want to play ball. Most notably, the streaming giant Netflix is refusing to share information with Apple. This means a search for a show that happens to be on Netflix might come up empty, even if the content exists. Not ideal.

Netflix's motivation is obvious. Streaming services want you to avoid being able to leapfrog their platforms; they aim to keep users within their apps to increase engagement and open opportunities for advertising and cross-selling. Which is great for them but not for the consumer. Once trapped, the ads, whose absence was once a critical selling point of streaming services, started to creep back in. Just look at Amazon Prime et al., who have introduced tiers of membership that use the "pay more, or we'll annoy you with ads" strategy.

How Do You Like Them Apples?

If Apple succeeds, the implications are enormous. It will make their ecosystem stickier than ever before. But what does Apple get out of it if not ad revenue? Well, data. Lots and lots of viewing data. With all that data, a predictive model for content will be just around the corner. We're talking TikTok for TV. This will further support Apple's TV production choices but will also set a new user experience and content discovery standard, vastly eclipsing the tired "for you" section attempted by most streamers.

If Apple can unite the various warring factions, it will be a big win for the user experience and Apple itself. Known for its unparalleled focus on design and user-centric products, Apple's brand strength lies in its ability to create seamless, intuitive experiences. This commitment is evident in every product they release, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, each designed to integrate smoothly into users' lives.

By consolidating the ability to search various streaming services, Apple would simplify the viewing experience and reinforce its reputation for prioritising user convenience. The ecosystem of related products will continue to expand, and yet again, Apple's focus on a streamlined user experience will bolster its market-leading position.

Up Next

So, what's a content-hungry viewer to do today? We may need to embrace the chaos. The paradox of choice isn't going away. Maybe the solution in the short term isn't finding the perfect way to navigate our options but learning to be content with not seeing everything—a confronting suggestion, I know.

In the meantime, as we continue to grapple with this most pressing of first-world problems, remember this: no matter how sophisticated our search algorithms become or how personalised our recommendations are, there will always be nights when we spend more time deciding what to watch than actually watching anything at all.

And on that note, I'll leave you to scroll endlessly through your streaming services, paralysed by choice, while I rewatch "The Wire" for the 37th time. Because sometimes, there is more comfort (and less risk) in retreading familiar old ground.

Now, go create... Or consume. Whatever floats your boat.