Tracking What We Watch

We’ve discussed how to keep track of what we’re watching on streaming services before but more folks are streaming more than ever and the landscape for tracking has changed a bit so I think it’s time to revisit the subject. And it’s not just for streaming! It’s for broadcast TV. And movies. And premiere and pilot dates.

A Whole Host of Options

I personally know of about 20 tracking tools and I know there are lots more than that. So, for the sake of simplicity, I’ll only discuss a few: 2 tools to help you keep track of what you’re watching and 2 to help you keep track of what you want to watch.

Your Watchlist

Your watchlist is a list of shows you want to watch. Maybe they’re not available yet or maybe you started on them but haven’t gotten back to them. The two that I use are Google TV and JustWatch.

Yes, Google TV is a hardware streaming device but it’s also an app that works independently of the device. It can help you keep track of the movies and series that catch your interest and it can make suggestions based on your history. In its Preferences you can select the streaming services for which you have a subscription. You can ask to be notified when movies and shows become available and, if you have the appropriate streaming app on your device, it can start playing any of the shows or movies you select. It has a watchlist which you update with the shows and movies that have caught your interest and you can go back and review it when you’re looking for something to watch. You can indicate what you’ve watched and give it a thumbs up or down. It will remember those selections to tune what it suggests to you. The app is free.

JustWatch (web: https://www.justwatch.com/) is another app similar to Google TV but without the hardware device. You select those services to which you subscribe and you can put shows and movies on your watchlist. You can rate what you’ve watched to tune its recommendations. The thing that differentiates it is it can give you prices for all of the services for which a show or movie is available. So, something may be available for free with an Apple TV+ subscription but you may be able to rent or buy it on Amazon Prime Video. And it can tell you the cost of buying or renting different resolutions (that is, SD, HD, 4K). The app is free with ads. A subscription is available to do away with the ads and unlock some additional features. I’ve been perfectly happy with the free version.

Tracking What You Watch

Many broadcast networks and streaming services only make one or two episodes of a series available at a time. Keeping track of what you’ve watched is simple if you’re only watching a few series but tracking more than a few can be pretty difficult. Not to mention trying to keep track of the premiere of a new season. This is where tracking apps can come in handy. They all have watchlist capabilities and you can select the services to which you subscribe. Some will even let you indicate your cable provider (if you have one).

Because I always worry about an app or service going away, I use two apps: Trakt.TV (https://trakt.tv/) and TV Time (https://www.tvtime.com/). Both are free but Trakt.TV has an upgrade (called VIP) which we’ll discuss shortly.

They both are very similar in function. Besides tracking what you watch (so you know how many episodes of The Gilded Age you’ve seen) and they both have the ability to connect with social networks. The real difference, as far as I’m concerned, is that Trakt.TV maintains a service so, if you don’t like the way it displays content or the way you interact with it, there are plenty of apps that connect with and use the Trakt.TV database and service. You’re less dependent on the app but you’re still dependent on the service.

The VIP Upgrade

I alluded to a paid upgrade to Trakt.TV earlier (I’ll just refer to it as Trakt from now on). First, Trakt does not sell or otherwise trade your information. It is all kept in-house and used to display its own ads to you (on the free plan.) The free version of Trakt allows for tracking up to 100 shows which might be enough for many - personally, I’m tracking more than 200 movies and shows between broadcast and streaming that I’m either watching or intend to watch. The VIP upgrade allows for unlimited show tracking. It also gives you configurable calendars so you can track and be notified of new season and series premieres and new movie availability. The calendar feature alone makes the VIP upgrade worth the $60/year cost for me.

That’s all for this time

I hope you have some ideas of how to track shows and movies you want to watch and track your progress on them. Don't hesitate to write to me if you have questions!

As always, my intent is to help you understand the basics and equip you to search for more detailed information.

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