2020 may have ruined our plans to go on vacations, see concerts or hang out with friends. But what’s one thing most of us still managed to do? Watch lots and lots of TV and movies.
There’s no shame in it. Movies and TV are a very necessary comfort during the COVID-19 pandemic. But a new app called Bingie launched on Wednesday to make the experience of watching your favorite shows and movies a lot more social.
Los Angeles entrepreneurs Matt Knox and Joey Lane came up with the idea for Bingie during an Arizona camping trip in late 2019, far away from any TV screens. The two noticed that small talk often involved the movies or TV shows that someone was watching, and opinions of these movies and shows often led to passionate discussions. They wanted to create an app to help people answer the question “What are you watching right now?”
The two officially started their company in January and raised funding in Q1. Soon after, COVID-19 began to sweep the nation, and the co-founders figured the need for their app was even more pressing. The Bingie team started to develop their app in March, with an early beta test coming several weeks later. After doing months of research to gather feedback, Bingie officially launched on Wednesday.
The app allows you to search a database of TV shows and movies, providing information about who’s in it, where you can stream it, what it’s about and more. You can also create a watchlist to keep track of all the movies and shows you’ve been meaning to watch.
But arguably, the most important part is the ability to add friends and share movies and shows you like. Once you share a show or movie, the app generates a message thread between you and your friend. You can also create group chats to discuss titles with multiple people. Bingie found that 64 percent of people preferred TV and movie recommendations from friends or family, as opposed to suggestion algorithms from streaming services, ads or posts on social media. This “human algorithm” often gives us the best suggestions for shows and movies we end up loving.
We all have friends or family members whose taste we trust when it comes to TV or movies. Bingie aims to foster interactions between people based on what they’re watching. The company’s research also found that people were just as excited about giving recommendations — if not more so — than receiving them from others.
“We wanted to create a social experience around something fun and natural,” Lane, the company’s CEO, told Built In.
Bingie also displays content from a variety of platforms, including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, Vudu and more. This cross-platform functionality is important because a significant amount of people don’t have a go-to place to see what’s available to watch across all the services they’re subscribed to.
Now that the app is live, the team hopes to see how people respond and roll out new features in the future. Bingie is based in LA and employs about a dozen people who are currently working remotely. The company says that this connection is important, because it helps them stay in tune with the entertainment industry.
“It’s exciting that we’re based in LA because it’s the perfect spot for TV and movie magic,” Knox said.
The Bingie app is available for download on the iOS App Store, with an Android and web app coming in the future.
