Jordan O'BrienIt is a well-known issue that users often find it difficult to find TV and film content online – especially when there are so many services available, yet not all content is available on one service. That means if a user wants to watch Frozen they can’t be sure whether it will be available on Netflix or Amazon Instant Video or even if it’s showing on BBC One. Now, Google is making it easier to find that content through an update to the company’s search results.
Google has been striving in recent years to offer more and more contextual search – meaning if users search a certain term, rather than delivering them countless web pages about their search term, instead Google delivers the answer. For example, if a user searches ‘King Henry VIII’ a snippet of information will give important facts – such as date of birth, spouses, children and even the place and date of death.
Now Google is extending that functionality to media content. That means in the future when users search for Game of Thrones or The Jungle Book instead of being served the official website, instead the first thing users will see will be places users can view that content.
Upon searching a piece of content, Google will serve users with TV listings with the time and channel that the TV show or movie will air on next. It will also serve the online service that the content is available on. Currently that includes Google Play, YouTube, Vudu and iTunes. There’s currently no indication on whether Google plans to bring on-board Netflix and Amazon Instant Video though.