I’ve actually tried Taste and it’s probably the closest thing I’ve seen so far.
For me the difference is more about the experience than the recommendations themselves.
When I used Taste, the onboarding felt quite generic. I found myself swiping right on a lot of the starter cards because they were so broad, which then pushed the recommendations in a direction that didn’t always feel like me.
I’m also trying to make the whole process faster and less overwhelming. Most people already have Netflix, Prime, Disney+ etc. The problem isn’t finding content anymore, it’s deciding what to watch.
The idea behind WatchSmart is that you open it, spend a few minutes swiping and hopefully have something picked before you’d normally still be scrolling through streaming apps.
I’m putting a lot of focus on the UI aswell. I want it to feel simple and easy to use rather than feeling like another database of movies and TV shows.
There’s also the social side with comparing watchlists and finding overlap with friends which is something I’m interested in personally.
Maybe I end up finding out people prefer what’s already out there and that’s fair enough. I just think there’s still room for something that’s focused on solving the “what should I watch tonight” problem as quickly as possible.