Movie/ TV video streaming sites are missing a big opportunity by not fueling long tail demand - which should be more profitable than premium super hits.
When I go to a VOD site, I either know the exact video to watch; or I don't and I am looking to explore. As streaming sites are investing heavily to solve the first case (mainly focused around buying rights for premium media properties, and must have for acquisitions), they are miserable on helping users explore or stumble upon new/unknown content. And ironically, solving the second case will help improve economics of an existing user due to lower content cost.
How to help users stumble upon movie content?
1. To find new movies, number 1 source is friends' recommendations. So you need to integrate social networking closely into it.
2. Second source is experts, and thus closer integration with IMDB.com or other movie database/recommendation site.
3. 'I am feeling lucky.' feature to show interesting content.
