Streaming guide JustWatch becomes a streamer itself

JustWatch, a company offering a search engine and guide for streaming movies and TV shows, is now moving directly into the streaming business itself. On Tuesday, the company behind the popular guide that’s used by 50 million people is launching JustWatch TV. The new streaming service will feature content from 30 partners and will offer both free and paid tiers, as well as a movie rental store.

The media and entertainment company behind the streaming guide, the JustWatch Group, initially announced its plans to venture into streaming last month. At the time, it said partners like Paramount, New Regency, Fremantle, Bleecker Street, and Vortex Media were on board. The company has since announced other content partners, including Cineverse in the U.S., LEONINE Studios in Germany, SND in France, and Altitude in the U.K.

The 12-year-old company has long been known for its online guide to movies and TV. Essentially, it’s a “TV Guide” for the streaming era, helping users navigate a landscape where movies and shows move from service to another, making it harder to keep up with what’s streaming where.

Available in 140 markets globally, the guide provides streaming options for more than 500,000 movies and shows across more than 1,500 service providers worldwide. This “where to watch” information and streaming chart data are also used to power some 1,400 partner websites and apps, and are valuable to studios, distributors, streamers, and agencies that use the data to target their campaigns across social media platforms like Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and others.

Now, the company believes there’s an even bigger opportunity to grow its audience data and insights by running its own service.

The new streaming service will be available within JustWatch’s existing apps and website across 12 markets, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Its free tier will offer a selection of ad-supported titles, while the ad-free version, JustWatch TV Plus, will offer more than 300 ad-free titles in the U.S., as well as other exclusive features, like advanced filters and the option to hide previously seen or disliked titles in the guide.

A movie rental store will also initially be available in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, with more markets to follow in time.

Like most low-cost services, JustWatch’s content lineup focuses on older movies and shows, as well as more indie content.

Another unique feature is that users will be able to influence the service’s content to some extent. JustWatch says users will be able to request titles they want to see to help shape what comes to the service.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Sarah Perez

Consumer News Editor

November 4

Boston

Buy One Pass, Get a Second Free

Cover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner for free

Book before the BOGO deal expires

People are using AI to make their smart TVs dumb again

Sarah Perez

Everyone’s watching the Elizabeth Holmes documentary ‘You Can See Everything’

Anthony Ha

Anthropic says its workforce has become less junior and is spending more time in meetings

Anthony Ha

Replit makes OpenAI its default over Anthropic, CEO says

Kirsten Korosec

Lucas Ropek

Rebecca Bellan

Mark Wahlberg wants to take on the longevity-startup crowd with an affordable gym concept

Connie Loizos

India becomes the latest country to report rogue AI agent activity

Aditya Mehta

Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style

Sean O'Kane