If you can find the content, content is king.

It’s becoming harder to find your favorite TV shows or blockbuster movies on streaming services. They can update their offerings each month, making it more difficult. This is making life more difficult for people who know what they want, but don’t know how to find it.

Some hits are almost never seen again. For example, “Batman Begins,” and “The Dark Knight” were hosted on four different streaming services from March 2020 to March 2021: Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max. Reelgood, which tracks streaming video across all services, says that some of these services hosted the movie twice during that period. You can find the movies currently on Hulu and HBO Max.

You can watch Harry Potter movies online. The films in the series were first shown on HBO Max in May 2020, before moving to Peacock in July. The films were then transferred to HBO Max in June 2021, but for only one month. The first three films are currently free to watch on Peacock. However, you will need a premium subscription to access the final five.

Paramount+ quickly reclaimed certain movies from other services, including “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” (launched March 2).

This merry-go round arguably when NBC announced it would not license “The Office” to Netflix. However, Netflix retained the rights until 2020. This move was intended to boost NBC’s Peacock streaming platform. According to Nielsen, “The Office” was streamed for more than 52 billion minutes in 2018. Similar moves were made by HBO Max when it pulled back “Friends”.

These shows and movies are a big hit with Hollywood producers. Those partners are now competitors, as other studios such as NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia have created their own streaming options to capitalize on the “gold rush”. Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, however, have been focusing more on creating original content.

Reelgood CEO David Sanderson stated that exclusive content is an important element in the battle for streaming supremacy. He said that production companies who want to have a larger share of the pie are realizing that their best chance for success is with their own properties.

The consumers are left to scan the internet for the shows that interest them. Chris Kaufman, a 35 year-old Logan resident, used to put movies such as the “Ocean’s 11” trilogy in his Netflix queue for later viewing. They were lost when Kaufman finally got around to watching them. They were moved to HBO Max in December 2020 after they left Netflix.

He said, “I don’t have much time in the day for watching, so now I have to go to search it out.”

Search engines are a great way to find answers. According to Alan Keane (a 35-year old Brooklyn resident), Google is used when he doesn’t need to search for specific services. Reelgood, JustWatch and other apps let you search for specific titles in a customized list. You can also search across all streaming apps that you subscribe to with digital media players such as Roku or Apple TV

It can be frustrating to have to constantly search for the right movies and shows. Consumers who decide to cancel a streaming service are not subject to penalties. This can lead to customer “churn”, which is an industry term that describes the rate at which customers sign up and then drop it, according Jeff Wlodarczak of Pivotal Research.

He said, “If your streaming service runs short of interesting content I would just drop it and come back at later dates.”

Kaufman stated that he and his family (including his toddler and wife) are considering ending Netflix as they use HBO Max more than Netflix.

He said, “We’ve been discussing as a family, dropping a service on monthly basis and then acquiring it again a few months later when it is fresh for us.”

Kevin Westcott, the head of Deloitte’s U.S. technology media and telecom business said that his research shows that streaming service subscribers most frustrated by this content merry-go round. It is also the No. People may cancel services if they see an increase in price.

He doesn’t think things will change anytime soon. Westcott believes that “windowing”, which is the process of releasing movies in theaters, and then on streaming services, will continue to be a major source for studio revenue. He said, “We’re always going be in a position where content will move.”

Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia didn’t immediately respond to a request of comment.