Did Netflix Just Cross the Streams?
Benjamin Mayo
To me, this may be the "finally" to end all "finallys":
Apple and Netflix have seemingly managed to find some common ground and strike a partnership for integration in the Apple TV app. Some users in the US are starting to be prompted to connect their Netflix account to the Apple TV app on their Apple TV 4K devices.
After doing so, Netflix originals are then able to be added to their Watchlist inside the TV app, and appear in Continue Watching. However, the integration does not seem to be complete just yet, so it’s probably still in the process of rolling out.
Sure enough, it does seem like a bunch of users are seeing a pop-up to "Connect Netflix to the Apple TV app" when starting a show/movie on Netflix. I just tried and am not seeing it myself, but I also live in London, so it may be a US-first thing (though I couldn't trigger it through a VPN either – so perhaps it's just slowly rolling out). Regardless, it's a massive change for the platform because it means Apple can finally unify content watch lists and yes, the ability to tell you if something you're about to buy is available for free on Netflix. As I wrote back in November:
Today, for example, I got a receipt indicating my family recently bought two videos: an episode of Hotel Transylvania: The Series and the animated movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The problem? The receipt itself. Because we paid for these even though both are actually available on Netflix to stream. And we pay for Netflix. And have for years. And Apple knows this. And has, for years.
Part of this is a Netflix problem – a big part. The service famously refuses to play nicely with other streaming services, and even just would-be streaming service aggregators, when it comes to surfacing their content outside of their apps. Said another way, they're happy to put a Netflix app anywhere and everywhere, but to see what content is available, they want you to open it. This makes it hard for Apple to know that those two pieces of content are available within an app on their own Apple TV box.
Again, it finally looks like Netflix is playing ball. Of course, it has looked that way in the past, only for Netflix to pull that rug. So I'd like some sort of confirmation from Netflix here to know this isn't just Apple doing what I implored them to do in that past last year:
If they're not using the right APIs or refuse to integrate, Apple needs to take matters into their own hands and make this work for customers. Yes, even for Netflix. Sorry, Netflix, you can't have an app on a platform but not allow that platform to surface your content. It's 2024.
It's now 2025, and I've been writing about the problem I like to call: "Where the Fuck Can I Stream This?" for years now. And it has arguably never been worse. Yesterday, I wrote about the issue with regard to sports and why I believe ESPN and Amazon are battling to solve it (though Netflix would undoubtedly like a say there as well). But sports – in particular, live sports – is one thing. Just good old "regular" streaming content is another. It's ridiculous how obtuse it is to find what you want.
Assuming Netflix is playing ball with Apple here, there are other questions. For example, will they allow Apple to recommend Netflix content for you based on your viewing habits? Maybe if Apple also agrees to share that data with Netflix? But it's Apple, will they actually do that? Maybe if a user explicitly agrees? The pop-up users are reporting seeing only says that Netflix will share viewing content with Apple, not the other way around...
Another question: does this lead to a deal to be able to subscribe to Netflix via Apple TV's 'Apple TV' app (yes, this is beyond confusing)? Meaning: you could do so without downloading Netflix's own app? Apple does this with other partners right now, but it's hard to see Netflix being okay with this – particularly if they have to give Apple a cut? But maybe if they've determined it's a good enough new growth vector (or, conversely, a small enough one), they'd be okay with it?
Regardless, this is seemingly a huge step towards the streaming content unification we all seek in our lives. It won't alleviate the need to sign up for four or five or six different streaming services, but if you can at least manage a queue of content for all those services in one place, it's... something!1
First an Apple TV Android app and now this – what's next, an actual Apple television set?
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
Update: First, the nice way to put it: As it turns out, I was right to couch my own (and hopefully your) expectations here. Word that this was some sort of "bug" (read: we did the right thing, accidentally) started trickling out and Netflix subsequently confirmed that it was a mistake (that has been corrected).
Now, the correct way to put it: Fucking fuck, fuck, fuck. Do these fucking idiots know how stupid this looks and is? How about you do the right thing for consumers? Too much to ask? Clearly.
1 And yes, I know that many third-party serices like Plex and JustWatch and ReelGood and Queue and many others allow you to do this, but it's quite different when it's content that's baked into a system's core OS functionality.