Aminata was constantly searching for the perfect entertainment. She spent hours flipping through TV channels and streaming services, scrolling on social media for recommendations and skipping through songs on her Spotify playlist. Even on car journeys, she’d switch through her favourited radio stations until she found the perfect song to match her mood, although she was never quite satisfied. She got annoyed whenever someone on the family Netflix account used her profile, messing up her personalized algorithm.
Aminata was obsessed with perfectly curating her profile on each streaming service but was beginning to get tired of being recommended the same old TV shows, music, and podcasts. Her morning gym workout took longer than needed, as she would spend nearly ten minutes between sets skipping through songs on her ‘Workout’ playlist, searching for the perfect music to match the rhythm of her Bulgarian split squats.
On the morning commute, half of her journey would be spent scrolling, looking for the right podcast to listen to. Scrolling past ShxtsNGigs, not wanting to risk an ugly laugh in public, and skipping over The Diary Of A CEO - not in the mood for anything too mentally taxing. She’d also switch to Apple Podcasts to see if those recommendations were any better. Then moving to Audible to use one of the three credits she had stacked up this year. As a new year’s resolution, she promised that this would be the year she read more. One quarter into the year and three credits later, she still had not found the right book she felt was worthy enough of her precious credits. Unwilling to part with them, she almost always returned to Spotify. Her commute was her dedicated podcast time, but since Spotify introduced that vertical feed, she spent even more time searching for something than listening to a podcast, so she often just went straight back to listening to one of the three main music playlists she always did.
Aminata’s evenings were always a battle to find something to relax and unwind to. Most of her evening would be spent scrolling through her Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ or YouTube home page, often falling asleep and waking up to find the remote cradled in her arms and the TV watching her. She had so many platforms at one point that she created a monthly subscription budget to restrict herself. If she wasn’t getting her money’s worth that month, she’d unsubscribe until she saw something worth re-joining for.
The past week had been different for Aminata. She’d found a new obsession: The Traitors. Most nights, she was glued to her TV at 8:58, ready for the latest episode; it had been the first show in months to have her watching live TV. To avoid spoilers, she even muted #TheTraitors on all her social media accounts. For once, she was at peace, with no need to endlessly scroll for content; she knew exactly what she wanted and when.
After returning home from work, Aminata was eager to watch The Traitors’ latest episode. She excitedly turned on her TV at 8:59 and headed straight to BBC One, heart racing with anticipation. But, instead of being greeted by Claudia Winkleman, football was on. She’d been waiting for this moment all day, and it wasn’t even on. They didn’t even move it to BBC Two or put it live on iPlayer. She couldn’t believe the BBC had betrayed her like this. She had been faithful to the show, watching it live every night like clockwork - and this is how they repay her? She was livid.
Frustrated by the disruption and need for another search, she switched to All4. She’d seen several documentary clips on social media that she was sure were from Channel 4 but couldn’t recall the titles. She tried typing in the names of the people she remembered seeing, but each search turned up empty:
She tried another:
Aminata turned to YouTube to see if she’d have better luck finding them there, but nothing. Deciding to stick with her YouTube homepage, she scrolls past music mixes, podcasts, music videos, workout videos, productivity and budgeting hacks, reviews, and game shows. Nothing matched her current mood. Then, saw people sharing memes from The Best Man: The Final Chapters on Twitter. She remembers seeing adverts about this and signs up for Now. After searching the Peacock app, she Googles how she can watch it, only to find it’s only available on the US Peacock. As if she’d just wasted part of her subscription budget to watch something that wasn’t even available, and she found she wasn’t the only person annoyed at this in the comments section.
Struggling to access content like this wasn’t unusual. In fact, it was one of the most aggravating aspects of Aminata’s viewing experience. Most of these shows were from the US, so she often had to wait months for a UK channel to pick them up. Illegal streaming sites were not an option; she avoided those like the plague. Of course, copyright violations were the main reason, but those X-rated popups and the low quality stream that lagged on her TV came in at a close second. It wasn’t even just the US shows, either. The UK programmes with a predominately Black cast were often relegated to the graveyard slots. It was as though they thought Black people were nocturnal. The only way she often found out about these shows was from the family WhatsApp group chat or if a clip from the show was posted on The Shade Borough.
She remembers hearing about the drama Riches launching on ITVX. Signing up for the new platform, she searches for the show. Coming soon, reads the cover art. This is getting ridiculous, she says to herself.
Further frustrated, she turns to her go-to streamer, Netflix, whose was the only algorithm she trusted. Aminata looks at the top 10 programmes in the UK today.
Nothing.
What about continue watching?
Nothing.
New Releases?
Nothing.
Zero caught her interest. Surely Prime Video has something? She stumbles upon The Real Housewives of Potomac - yes, seven seasons of chaotic reality TV to distract from her missing Traitors! However, when she clicks on the artwork, she is directed to the Hayu page with a prompt to start a 7-day free trial. She rolls her eyes, knowing she has already spent her monthly subscription budget and has no interest in signing up for another.
Despite these claims of having the best content, she still can’t find anything to watch. Eventually, she moves off the sofa, finally giving up and getting ready for bed. As she does, she reminisces about watching BBC Three for an entire evening. No need to search across different channels or services; From Don’t Tell the Bride to 60 Second News, Some Girls, Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, The Words Strictest Parents, followed by Family Guy and American Dad. What a time to be alive, she thought. In bed, she turns to TikTok.
Every video she watched mentioned the #CleanseChallenge, where people wiped their data from all subscription services to curate better recommendations from a clean slate. This was the moment she decided to take back control of her own life. Tomorrow, she would begin. Her goal: delete all her viewing, listening, and search history to start fresh, so she could be more intentional and only click on what truly interested her. The thought of deleting her data from all services was daunting, but no longer would she have to spend endless hours scrolling through recommendations. Aminata was willing to do whatever it took to improve her media experience.
About the Author
Ayesha Taylor-Camara is a content and audience insights researcher and final year PhD Candidate at The University of Nottingham in the Cultural, Media and Visual Studies department. Her thesis explores the value of the BBC in the current online media landscape, where through a mixed methods approach, she builds a conceptual framework tool to explore how the BBC provides value in our everyday lives. Outside of her PhD, her research approach centres audiences and guides creative decisions by connecting the dots between audiences, content, marketing, and brands. She is currently managing UK Content and Audience Insights at Audible.