Federation: A Solution to Broken Watch Lists

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All I want for the holidays is to track down that elusive movie I’ve been meaning to watch. What was its name again? I could have sworn I saved it somewhere…

If your household is anything like mine, you probably face the same dilemma: there’s an overwhelming amount of content to watch, and keeping tabs on everything you want to stream has turned into a real challenge. It’s not that there aren’t tools available; there are plenty! And they’re all user-friendly! That’s part of the problem.

Here’s the usual scenario: I’m browsing Netflix, logged into my profile, and I bookmark a movie for later. Then my partner takes over the remote, spends some time scrolling through Hulu, and adds a show to her watch list. Or so we think—until we try to find it later and realize she was actually logged into our kid’s profile and added the show there instead.

The next day, we fire up the TV and spot something interesting on the home screen. A quick button press, and it’s added to the watch list. But wait, Google manages this list, and it’s completely separate from the others. Our family probably has about a dozen different watch lists. We don’t actively use them all, especially when we’re just trying to find something to watch. But you can bet there’s a fun movie sitting on our dog’s Tubi watch list (thanks to the kids), just waiting for us to remember where we saved it.

There are apps attempting to tackle this very issue. For example, Plex offers a solid universal catalog of titles across major streaming services and a watch list to keep track of your favorites. The app also does a decent job of deep-linking into third-party services, allowing you to jump straight to that Netflix show or Amazon movie rental with a single click—at least on mobile. On smart TVs, those deep links can be hit or miss, depending on the platform. (Sorry, Roku users!)

The catch is that a universal watch list like this requires a lot more effort on your part. When you’re browsing Netflix late at night and find something intriguing, you have to pull out your phone, open the Plex app, search for that title, and add it to your list. And when you finally get around to watching it, you’ll need to repeat the process to remove it from Plex’s list. That’s a lot of hassle for a little late-night viewing.

The unfortunate reality is that watch lists, despite their good intentions, are flawed. Here’s how streaming services and smart TV platforms could improve them: Instead of keeping watch-list data isolated, these services should allow users to opt into sharing it across platforms. This way, if I bookmark a movie on Netflix, the app could share that info with my Plex watch list. Once I watch it, it would disappear from both lists. And when my partner adds a Hulu show to our Google TV watch list, it would automatically appear in our Hulu watch list too.

Ideally, I’d want multiple ways to input this data and just as many ways to access it. Maybe I’d maintain one master list managed by Plex, Google, or another service. But I’d also want to keep hitting that bookmark button in whatever streaming app I’m using and have all my lists update in real time. Sure, Netflix may not list titles exclusive to Hulu, but shows frequently shift between services. What if Netflix noted the shows I bookmarked on HBO Max and added them to my Netflix watch list when they eventually became available?

With enough data flowing between streaming apps and watch lists, we might also become less reliant on profiles, which have always been an imperfect solution. Sure, my partner and I have different tastes sometimes, but most of the time, we watch together. So why not automatically sort our bookmarked shows and movies by genre, mood, and age rating, rather than confining them to individual profile watch lists?

Federating watch lists and freeing movie and TV show bookmarks from those silos could open up a range of exciting new possibilities that simply aren’t feasible today. For instance, what if Spotify automatically generated playlists of soundtracks from movies and shows you recently watched, based on the titles disappearing from your watch list?

Unfortunately, streaming services are fiercely protective of their data. Companies want you to spend all your time within their app, not with a third-party aggregator that might suggest titles from Hulu based on your Netflix viewing habits. In fact, Netflix is so focused on its in-app experience that it doesn’t allow Google TV users to add Netflix titles to their smart TV’s universal watch list. And none of the major streaming services, with Plex being a notable exception, offer an RSS feed for your watch list.

But during this time of year, I can’t help but wish for miracles. Perhaps there’s a streaming executive out there right now, contemplating a New Year’s resolution. Here’s a great one: Open the floodgates. Free the data. Let people remix it and create interesting hacks. Gather as much data as possible from other services to help everyone find the perfect movie or show without having to sift through countless lists.

Until that day comes, I might just pick up a book. Now, if only I could remember what I wanted to read next…