How, exactly, do you get fans of seemingly disparate titles and genres to begin mixing and matching beyond their first viewing impulse? As the streaming industry continues to mature beyond its embryonic stages and into the next phase of its development, it’s a key question that will help define the medium’s future health. 

Warner Bros. Discovery has mashed together HBO Max and Discovery+ into the newly rebranded Max despite little affinity, or shared audience overlap, between the catalogs, according to Parrot Analytics data. Prior to that, Paramount+ swallowed up Showtime and, by the end of this year, Hulu will be integrated into Disney+. Thanks to companies both voluntarily opting out of the streaming wars (see: Sony) and being forced out (see: Quibi) as well as inevitable mergers and acquisitions, additional library consolidation is all but guaranteed. With that comes a host of new questions and concerns about title discoverability and recommendation systems. 

Generally speaking, streamers recommend titles to viewers based on their previous viewing history (this varies platform to platform). So, hypothetically, Netflix might recommend crime drama Ozark to a subscriber that just finished Breaking Bad. Giving a viewer more of what they’ve already enjoyed can naturally lead to extended in-app engagement in the short-term.

But the current state of the streaming industry is more defined by its challenges and obstacles than its potential and longer term mindset is necessary to plot a successful course forward. Increasing the perceived value of your platform means convincing consumers of its four-quadrant appeal, which requires a more versatile assortment of titles, which will help to reduce churn and lower the cost of customer acquisition if successful. Essentially, training audiences to move beyond their comfort zones can be beneficial.

Unlocking gateway titles that share strategic affinity between catalogs can help guide a viewer to sample new taste clusters and secure new subscribers. In the case of HBO Max and Discovery+, that means surfacing recommendations that nudge subscribers to broader content hubs.

For example, Max can recommend Game of Thrones to viewers who just finished watching Succession, which does not share any affinity with the Discovery+ library. Those that watched GoT also tended to watch Deadliest Catch, making it a reasonable recommendation next, and those that watched Deadliest Catch typically sampled many more Discovery+ shows. Suddenly, you’ve bridged the gap between HBO’s scripted brilliance and Discovery’s addictive laundry folding series.

In streaming, it’s not always about adding more, but about using what you already know about your audience to get more out of them.