Our problem is not a shortage of content, it’s too much. According to The Motley Fool’s State of Streaming 2025 survey, 62% of U.S. consumers say there are too many streaming options, up from 53% in 2022. Viewers are also subscribing to fewer services, spending less overall, and increasingly frustrated that their favorite shows are scattered across multiple platforms. Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends survey echoes that fatigue, finding that 39% of respondents canceled a streaming subscription in the past six months, with younger audiences spending more time on social media and gaming than on streaming video.
This fragmentation has created a paradox: the golden age of content has become the era of confusion. With hundreds of apps, thousands of titles, and multiple ecosystems, users now struggle to find what to watch. That makes universal search far more than a convenience, it has become the control point for audience engagement, platform power, and monetization.
Universal search has moved from nice-to-have to strategic imperative, that the balance of power is shifting toward those who control it, and for streaming execs, this is one of the most consequential levers in the business you’re not yet treating aggressively enough.
Universal Search as Strategic Differentiator
Fragmentation in 2025 means navigation is the bottleneck
Viewers typically bounce between services such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, or regional options, often via the OS home screen of their CTV platform of choice. The old model of a user going into one app and browsing is increasingly inadequate.
Universal search, via the TV OS, voice assistant, or aggregator app, now represents a first interface for many users. It is not just keyword matching: it must understand context, rights, device, language, and personalization.
When a user reaches the universal search bar first, the outcome of that search becomes the moment of truth for whether they engage, switch, or churn.
If you can’t be found, you’re invisible
Platform built-in search (on smart TV OS, consoles, or streaming devices) is now the “homepage” for a growing share of households. One recent study found that 26% of viewers go to the home screen’s built-in search function as their first point of entry.
If your service or content is not surfaced via the universal search layer, you will have difficulty acquiring attention. That means acquisition, retention, churn (all the key metrics) are at risk.
The power of discovery equals platform leverage
Platforms (smart TV OEMS, set-top makers, OS providers) increasingly control the front door of streaming. The fully-aggregated universal search layer gives them the opportunity to direct users, influence behavior, promote partners, and monetize placement.
Platforms that own or control universal search become the gatekeepers between viewers and content apps. That shifts the power away from individual streaming services toward the OS/platform layer. For any streamer, neglecting universal search means effectively ceding that gatekeeping role.
How Universal Search Works and Why It’s Hard
Indexing, metadata, rights and deep links
At a high level, universal search assembles:
- indexed catalogs of all participating services (metadata, availability, language, region)
- APIs and deep-links so that a search result can launch the correct app (or prompt install) and deep-link into playback
- Rights and location logic so that results reflect subscription status, region, language, app availability
Failure in any one of these components means the user journey breaks, results are inaccurate or incomplete, and engagement drops.
Metadata is the silent infrastructure
Metadata (title, synopsis, genre, actor, release year, multiple languages, thumbs, alternate versions) is the “invisible” substrate of search. Universal search only works well when metadata is clean, consistent, and enriched.
In multilingual markets, metadata demands localization in tone, language, cultural relevance. Missing translations or inconsistent versions mean search invisibility.
A good search engine demands planning, feed integration, QC, and iteration. Many services treat this as a minor issue, but it’s foundational.
AI and voice are the new frontier
Keyword-based search is giving way to conversational or descriptive queries: “that Korean zombie show”, “funny dog movie”, “closest thing to X I haven’t seen”.
AI and natural-language processing (NLP) help interpret these queries; contextual signals (device type, time of day, user profile) help re-rank.
Voice search adds complexity: parsing speech, mapping it to structured metadata, dealing with synonyms or ambiguous phrasing.
Some platforms are already experimenting with surfacing topical or mood-based “rows” in response to search feeds, meaning that the search feed now powers browsing carousels as well as direct results.
Platform silos and bias remain major hurdles
Despite the promise of being “universal,” cross-platform search remains anything but. Each device and operating system still runs its own version of discovery, meaning results often depend on where a viewer searches rather than what they’re actually looking for. True interoperability across ecosystems remains the exception, not the rule.
Importantly, platforms may favor their own apps or services in search results. That tilts the playing field and creates structural bias against independent apps.
For streaming services, the onboarding process into universal search is inconsistent, sometimes opaque, and sometimes extremely costly or restricted.
Platforms Are the New Arbitrators
In many cases the universal search result is not neutral. Platforms increasingly monetize features: paid prioritization, sponsored placement, promoted rows, featured results.
That creates two tensions:
- For streamers: paying for visibility in the very search layer that should help you compete.
- For platforms: balancing user experience (good results) vs. commercial incentives (promote yours).
Short-term revenue plays (e.g., charging hefty fees for search inclusion or ranking) may undermine long-term ecosystem health (user frustration, churn, less content diversity).
App indexing is part of the battle, but only part
While app installs are still a key goal (because the search result often links into app install + playback), the bigger fight is visibility and ranking in search. If you’re buried in results, the install link doesn’t matter.
Getting indexed is necessary but not sufficient. The strategic issue is “how visible am I?” and “how often am I surfaced?”, which ties back into metadata, rights, feed, platform bias, and search algorithm.
Implications for Streaming Executives
You must own, or partner for, search feed integration
If your service hasn’t systematically integrated into the major TV OS and device search layers, you’re leaving discovery and growth on the table.
Action items:
- Audit your search footprint across major platforms (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, Samsung, LG).
- Confirm your metadata feed is complete, enriched, localized, and maintained.
- Monitor your visibility and ranking in search results; treat your search feed like an ad or marketing channel.
- Negotiate with platforms not just for inclusion but for ranking, placement, feed updates, and bias mitigation.
Search ≠ just discovery; it’s retention, monetization and churn defense
Because universal search sits at the first interaction point, it influences whether users engage or bail. That makes it a retention lever as well.
- A well-optimized search experience reduces friction, enhances engagement, and can reduce churn.
- In ad-supported models (AVOD/FAST), better search can drive higher CPMs (by connecting the right content to the right user quickly).
- For subscription services (SVOD), search is a path to convert browsing intent into playback; that playback is what triggers value.
Competitive dynamics: platform owners vs. content apps
Content services must recognize the shift: platform OS owners increasingly mediate access to audiences. If you ignore that, you risk being treated as “just another app”.
- Platforms can set rules, prioritize their own services, restrict indexing, or charge premium fees for placement.
- Services should consider partnerships with aggregators and feed platforms, or negotiate visibility clauses.
- Ultimately, the content–distribution–device value chain is shifting. Smart-TV OEMs and OS providers are no longer passive conduits, they’re active gatekeepers.
Global and multilingual markets amplify complexity
In markets like India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, universal search faces additional friction. Content is often dubbed or subtitled in multiple languages, with each version generating its own metadata entry. If those data feeds aren’t normalized, search engines may treat the same title as multiple assets, fracturing visibility and confusing results. Localization isn’t just about language, it’s about search relevance, metadata must reflect cultural tone, title conventions, and regional rights windows. For global streamers, this means investing in metadata enrichment and feed management, not just in-app discovery.
Guard against short-term monetization traps
Some platforms are now charging six-figure fees for inclusion in their so-called “universal” search. That’s not innovation, it’s extortion. Turning access into a paywall may deliver short-term revenue, but it corrodes the ecosystem. It favors deep-pocketed players, suppresses diversity, and undermines the very premise of universal discovery. If platforms want users to trust their search layers, they can’t monetize visibility like a protection racket.
More broadly, platforms charging large fees or requiring pay-to-play for inclusion in search are pursuing short-term gains at the expense of long-term health. They may privilege cash-rich players and shrink discovery diversity. Paying for visibility today doesn’t guarantee neutral algorithmic treatment tomorrow. Over time, users may perceive search as biased, leading to frustration. That undermines the home-screen and OS value proposition, which ultimately hurts the entire ecosystem.
Services should push for fair access, feed transparency, and algorithmic accountability, not just pay their way in and hope for the best.
The Streaming Wars Take
If you’re a streaming executive and you haven’t elevated your universal-search strategy yet, you’re exposed. Discovery used to be about content and catalog. In 2026, it must be about visibility, search feed integration, platform negotiation, and algorithmic positioning.
Companies that master the search layer will benefit in three ways:
- Higher acquisition and lower friction when users search and find your content at or near the top.
- Better retention and monetization because a smoother search-to-play path reduces churn and increases usage.
- Competitive insulation from being treated as just “another app” by platforms; instead you become a surfaced partner.
Conversely, services that under-invest will find themselves buried in the dark corners of home screens, losing users to those who won the front door.
Universal search is now less about “what’s inside your app” and more about “where you surface outside your app”. Treat it like you would a prime shelf placement in retail, because for streaming, that’s exactly what it is.
