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Streaming’s traditional algorithmic search tools give way to the big chatbots

More than half of the 4,000+ U.S. consumers surveyed by Gracenote said they prefer using an LLM verses a traditional native app-based search tool to help find something to watch

Streaming companies collectively spent billions of dollars chasing a Holy Grail search-and-recommendation tool, built on algorithms and metadata, to chop down the seeming lifetime TV viewers must spend to find something they want to watch.

That quest hasn’t stopped, but its forward momentum is increasingly being ceded to the big AI companies and their large language models (LLMs). Notable is Netflix’s decision to build its new “search experience” on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Music streamer Spotify, meanwhile, also uses LLMs to create “contextualized search” so that an AI DJ can play a steady flow of songs personalized for individual users.

According to a new Gracenote survey of more than 4,000 U.S. internet and chatbot users ages 13-79, conducted in late-January/early-February, consumers are also becoming more comfortable using LLMs to find entertainment options.

“AI is providing something that a keyword-matching algorithm can’t: a conversational experience that is both personal and iterative. It also provides direct access to information, rather than navigation pointers to information,” Gracenote says in its “TV search and discovery in the AI era” report.