I'm sure streaming services have researched this to the max, all drawing the same conclusion... If people get lost in the catalog and are exposed to the algorithm instead of using their own filter, it helps revenue more than offering a good experience.

This.

Anyway, if you are willing to forego the convenience of the standard UI, there's a wealth of alternative guides out there. Some track a ton of services like justwatch.com or tastoid.com. Some might have more titles up their sleeve than others.

If you use Prime Video , the new IMDB advanced search is solid. It's got some really nifty filters [1]

[1] https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?online_availability=US%2F...

Too bad there aren't a lot of "instant watch" filters. Looks like US, UK, DE only. You'd think all countries would be viewable unless they are manually scraping.

Because they want to pick what you watch for financial reasons, rather than you deciding for yourself.

Their argument might be their catalog is so vast, picking something for you helps avoid doomscrolling... getting frustrated by choice paralysis... and then cancelling your subscription.