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Matthew Buchanan Matthew Buchanan

Announcing JustWatch integration (with support for streaming providers in over 30 countries) and ‘Favorite services’, a new feature that allows paid members to select the streaming services they subscribe to, and browse or filter by them individually or together.

We’re ecstatic to announce a new partnership with JustWatch, the most comprehensive streaming search engine on the internet. For our members, this means a number of positive changes that will help you find new content to watch on the services you subscribe to. Here’s a look at what’s new:

Improved streaming data

Our previous approach to streaming availability was largely restricted to the US market, and relied on search to match titles between us and our supplier, a process that often led to incorrect or misleading data. Other complicating factors meant it could sometimes take weeks to receive updates when titles arrived on, or departed from, individual services. No more!

JustWatch has accurate streaming data for services in more than 30 countries, and—thanks to a shared ID space and a superior transfer method—we’ll receive complete daily updates to keep everything in sync. In the US market, for example, JustWatch monitors well over 100 streaming services, including:

  • Amazon Video (and Prime Video)
  • Apple iTunes
  • Criterion Channel
  • Epix
  • Fandango Now
  • Google Play Movies
  • HBO Now (and Go)
  • Hulu
  • Kanopy
  • Microsoft Movies
  • Netflix
  • Showtime
  • Tribeca Shortlist
  • Vudu
  • YouTube (including free and Premium)
  • and dozens more…

A new availability guide

The data we receive from JustWatch powers a new modal popup on the film pages of our mobile and desktop websites, displaying all known streaming providers for each title.

By default, the list of services is sorted by price, with options to show SD, HD or 4K providers only. Each icon is a link to the provider’s site, where you’ll find information about streaming the film in question. Our apps also benefit from this new JustWatch data, more on that below.

Favorite services

In addition to new streaming data, we’ve added an often-requested feature: our Pro and Patron members can now select any number of streaming providers as ‘Favorite services’ in the Settings section of our website.

Those of you with a paid account can pick from any of JustWatch’s monitored services in more than 30 supported countries, and if you happen to subscribe to services in multiple countries, that’s no problem, just find and add each one to your list.

Favorite services are used in two ways: to customize the list of services visible directly on a film’s page (and in the ‘Where to watch’ section of our apps); and as new browse and filter options in the Service menu on our Films page and when viewing lists, watchlists, and cast/crew pages.

Browsing and filtering

The addition of high-quality streaming provider data means we can answer your most burning questions, such as which recent docos are on your Netflix:

There are 486 documentary films released in the 2010s available on Netflix NZ

Or streaming on all the services you subscribe to:

There are 1,685 documentary films released in the 2010s available on your streaming services

As usual, you can also exclude films you’ve watched to generate recommendation lists for yourself. For convenience, we provide paid members with up to five tiers to browse and filter by, as applicable based on the services you select:

  • All (all Favorite services combined)
  • In Cinemas (Favorites where you can purchase tickets)
  • Buy, Rent or Stream (Favorites where you can pay to watch at home)
  • Rent or Stream (Favorites where you can rent or stream)
  • Stream Only (Favorites where you can stream at no additional charge)

Favorite services are combined with our featured services (Amazon and iTunes for streaming, and Fandango for cinema tickets) if a title is streaming in your geographic region.

Members with free accounts only see featured services on film pages, filter/browse screens and in our apps, but can access the full list of streaming providers for an individual film via the modal popup or an app link.

iTunes support

In addition to the territories covered by JustWatch, Letterboxd has data for every country in which the iTunes Movies service is available. These countries appear in the region selector in Settings, with iTunes as their only service. As JustWatch announces support for additional providers and markets, supported services will automatically appear in the appropriate places.

All the changes above are live on the web now, and in updates to our iOS and Android apps rolling out today. This update also paves the way for us be able to notify you when titles in your watchlist arrive on streaming providers in your favourite services list (we’ll make a follow-up announcement when that’s ready). As always, we welcome feedback on these new additions. If you were holding back from going Pro because our data was US-only, we invite you to take another look and enjoy these new perks.

Matthew Buchanan Matthew Buchanan

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