Find family friendly movies quickly
Kids lose patience while parents search.
It's like Kayak for streaming services
Agency
Urban Pixels
PROJECT
0-to-1 consumer search product
Role
Creative direction, UX/UI, strategy
OVERVIEW
In 2011, streaming was exploding but no one had answered the question every viewer kept asking: where can I actually watch this? Built as an Urban Pixels side project, Can I Stream It? became a cross-platform search engine indexing 30+ services, so users could instantly find where a title was available to stream, rent, buy, or track. It launched across web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Chrome, earned 27 press placements, and became an early go-to for cord-cutters before streaming aggregation was mainstream. I led creative direction, UX/UI, and product strategy from concept through five platform expansions.
PROBLEM
We built a search engine, not a recommendation engine, and that distinction shaped every decision. Competitors asked “what should you watch?” We asked “where can you watch what you already want to see?”
The friction in detail
The friction had a specific shape. A user would think of a movie, open Netflix, not find it, close Netflix, open Hulu, not find it, search Google, find a result from 2011 that was no longer accurate, try Amazon, discover it was available, but only for purchase, not streaming. Total time: eight to ten minutes. No guarantee of accuracy at the end of it. If the title wasn't available on any service that week, there was no way to know that upfront, and no way to be notified when it changed. The problem compounded with every new service that launched: more places to check, more licensing complexity, more outdated search results, more wasted time. The user wasn't doing anything wrong. The information just didn't exist in one place.
"It used to take me 10 minutes to look at each one."
Mike, App Store user review, 2014
The friction in detail
The friction had a specific shape. A user would think of a movie, open Netflix, not find it, close Netflix, open Hulu, not find it, search Google, find a result from 2011 that was no longer accurate, try Amazon, discover it was available — but only for purchase, not streaming. Total time: eight to ten minutes. No guarantee of accuracy at the end of it. If the title wasn't available on any service that week, there was no way to know that upfront, and no way to be notified when it changed. The problem compounded with every new service that launched: more places to check, more licensing complexity, more outdated search results, more wasted time. The user wasn't doing anything wrong. The information just didn't exist in one place.
“It used to take me 10 minutes to look at each one.”
Mike, App Store user review, 2014
We recognized a clear need
What if there was a single search engine that aggregated streaming availability in real time?
The Solution
A universal search experience powered by real-time integrations across 30+ services, plus title alerts, a Chrome extension, and a PRO tier that filtered results by a user's own subscriptions. Over two and a half years it expanded across five platforms with TV support and iPad optimization as the market evolved.
Core features: universal search across 30+ services, real-time availability, stream/rent/buy price comparison, custom availability alerts, and direct deep-links to launch apps.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.
Sarah Perez
Tech Crunch Consumer News Editor
Tech Crunch Consumer News Editor
Understanding users & the market
The idea for Can I Stream It? came from our own frustration, so we started by validating whether others had the same problem. Through informal interviews and surveys with movie fans and cord-cutters, we found users were repeatedly Googling titles or checking streaming apps one by one just to see where something was available. Existing solutions were fragmented, incomplete, or difficult to use, revealing a clear gap in the market.
Our research identified a core audience of tech-savvy streaming users who valued speed, simplicity, and convenience over platform loyalty. They regularly jumped between services to find content and wanted a faster, more unified experience. These insights shaped the product vision: a comprehensive, intuitive search tool that made streaming availability instantly accessible.
Target users & personas
PARENTS
College Students
Find something to watch on a budget
Too much time spent scrolling, tight budget.
Movie Buffs
Track down obscure titles
Hard to find niche films, too many services.
Digital Consumers
Find the best streaming deal
Paying for multiple services, need better recommendations.
Core features
User flows
By the numbers
Launched November 2011, Can I Stream It? ran through 2014, spanning five platforms and indexing 30+ services at peak. It earned 27 press placements across outlets with 200M+ combined monthly readership, including Gizmodo, TechCrunch, CNET, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Consumer Reports, and Lifehacker.
Launched 2011
5 platforms at peak
30+ services indexed
500k registered users (peaking near 750k)
Scaled Can I Stream It? to approximately ~50K monthly active users.
75K–150K searches/day
Powered an estimated 75K–150K streaming searches per day across movies and television content.
$7-10k/mo
Affiliate revenue via streaming-partner referrals.
Successfully operated during the early streaming platform era before large-scale search integrations from Google reshaped the category landscape.
Press & reception
"It's like Kayak for streaming services. Search one spot and get results from all the major players."
— Gizmodo
Can I Stream It? wasn't pitched to press. It was a side project we built because the problem was genuinely frustrating us. The coverage came because we solved a real thing, and the breadth of that coverage, from entertainment trade press to consumer advocacy to a Snapchat founder's app list, tells you who the product resonated with and why.
“I texted my sister to see if she had any cool apps that I didn’t know about.
She likes watching TV and has this app called Can I Stream It?, which is totally genius.
It lets you know where to stream your favorite shows and movies.”
Evan Spiegel
CEO Snapchat, featured Can I Stream It? in his personal app list.
“Add this site to your bookmarks because I guarantee you, at some point, you’re going to need it.”
Sarah Perez
Consumer News Editor – Tech Crunch
“If you watch a lot of movies on different sites, Can I Stream It? will definitely save you some time. It’s a great way to find what you’re looking for, and maybe even a few things you’re not.”
Gabrielle Taylor
Gadget Hacks
“A great service that lets you quickly find an online stream of your favorite movies as well as sources for e-rentals, digital purchases and of course venues to procure the old-fashioned DVD or Blu-ray.”
“If you often find yourself paralyzed by choice with the many options available today, Can I Stream.it? can help. Whether using their website, iPhone app, or Android app, the service lets you search across multiple platforms to find the movie or TV show you want.”
