Google Play Movies & TV is getting a major update that’s focused on finding more relevant content for you to watch.
Google is transitioning the Play Movies and TV app from being a place to watch the content you’ve purchased into a front that’s designed to help you find more content to watch across a multitude of services.
Google is working to let you find new Movies and TV, simply by searching withing both Google Play Movies and TV and the Play Store. Simply search for a show or movie and the search result will tell you which services you can find it on.
The downside to this is that Google has named mostly US-only streaming and video services at the moment, including ABC, CBS, FOX NOW, NBC, Hulu, HBO NOW, HBO Go, Showtime, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Now, HGTV, BET Now, Comedy Central, though they did say that they will ‘continue to add more partners over time’.
Google is also making it easier to find new things to watch. Google has improved their search, letting you refine searches by genre, whether it’s available to rent or buy, and other options with just a few taps.
Also being added is the option to thumbs up/thumbs down TV Shows and Movies you’ve already watched to help Google refine their suggestions in Play Movies & TV. This should allow you to find more relevant movies and TV shows in the future when you’re wanting to find something new.
Google is also making your watchlist more prominent by adding a dedicated watchlist tab. Anytime you add a show or movie to your watchlist it will then appear in the watchlist, and you’ll get notified when it’s available to rent or buy on Google Play or available to stream on a service, or if it’s already available, you’ll be notified when the price drops.
The update should in theory be live now, though the search function for finding movies and shows doesn’t seem to be working
What’s really annoying is when you want to rent something and it’s only available for purchase. Happens to us all the time.
Wish these features existed outside the US ?