Even the best programme is useless if no one can find it. The key question therefore is: how can I ensure that my content reaches audiences quickly and easily?
This was the focus of an expert discussion at German media conference Medientage München today. “Before the fun comes the agony of choice,” summarised Lisa Jäger, Partner at consultancy Simon-Kucher. Streaming services offer an abundance of content – yet orientation is often lacking. Confusing navigation, poor recommendations and cluttered interfaces make searching difficult and can ultimately lead users to cancel their subscriptions.
According to the Global Streaming Study 2025 conducted by strategy consultancy Simon-Kucher, content discovery takes an average of 10.5 minutes. That’s how long customers spend browsing before starting to watch. To put this into perspective: for many, the journey takes considerably longer, as the average also includes those who already know what they want to watch before opening the app.
The study shows that both the content itself and its discoverability are the number one purchase criteria – price only comes second. “An increasing number of streamers are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content and can’t find what they’re looking for fast enough. As a result, this can fuel churn,” Jäger explained. “Ten per cent of respondents who had cancelled a service in the past twelve months cited difficulties finding content as the main reason,” she added.
Contrary to what many might assume, ad-free viewing is no longer an absolute must-have for subscribers. Advertising is becoming more accepted. According to the study, 29 per cent of subscriptions on both Netflix and Disney+ are now ad-supported. “However, users value knowing how much time remains in an ad break – it makes the waiting easier,” said Jäger.
Factors such as price, range of content, flexible cancellation, exclusive titles, ease of use and ad-free options all play an important role in persuading users to subscribe. But the biggest challenge often comes afterwards – keeping them from leaving. That only works, said moderator Jörn Krieger (Broadband TV News), if providers manage to “keep frustration to a minimum.” Smart design, intelligent personalisation and the use of data are essential to improve the user experience.
To engage users as individually as possible, streaming providers are focusing on strategic platform design, advanced recommendation engines and data-driven UX optimisation. These are key requirements for staying relevant in a saturated market and ensuring long-term willingness to pay. On this point, the experts were unanimous.
Josephine Kittner, Senior Vice President Content Strategy, Discovery & Analytics at RTL+, is responsible for strategic content management and visibility measures. “We have a very extensive portfolio, and navigating it is our core task,” she explained. “Numerous usage data points feed our recommendation algorithm.”
At ZDF, a “variety of tools” is also used to increase awareness of public service content, said Natalie Müller-Elmau, Head of Genre Management for Culture, Science and Partners at ZDF. The algorithm used for this purpose is publicly accessible at algorithmen.zdf.de.
To ensure users are not only offered “more of the same” but also discover hidden gems within the catalogue, ZDF combines data analysis with the expertise of its programme planners. “We deliberately mix in other content – that’s how we bring surprises to the forefront,” said Müller-Elmau.
RTL+ also integrates human curation, following the motto “Discovery beats search.” The platform works with a ratio of around 70 per cent algorithmic recommendations to 30 per cent editorial curation.
Marco Hellberg, Managing Director of Canal+ Germany, which also operates a pay-TV channel and streaming service in Austria, likewise uses metadata for personalisation. He can imagine a future in which such data is used to automatically create and deliver different trailers for specific user groups. Nevertheless, he places greater emphasis on the human element than many others. As he put it confidently: “Human curation beats AI.”