Global streaming brands face a significant shift in content discovery that challenges the traditional dominance of search. In Q4 2024, Google’s global search market share fell below 90% for the first time since 2015 – indicating a broader engagement with alternative discovery methods.
Concurrently, AI platform use is rapidly expanding. The global generative AI market value increased by 54.7% from 2022 to 2024, and this growth shows no signs of stopping. Major players like Netflix and Google TV are already integrating AI search and discovery capabilities. This signals a future where internal platform AI will play a key role in content curation and user experience.
In this evolving landscape, global streaming brands need to adapt their organic visibility strategies beyond traditional SEO to include Language Learning Model Optimization (LLMO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). These approaches optimize website and third-party content for the sophisticated AI-powered search and recommendation systems that are becoming central to user discovery.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF CONTENT DISCOVERY
For years, global streaming brands relied on a familiar strategy: traditional SEO. They meticulously focused on keywords, backlinks, and website health, and it worked. Their content popped up in search results, helping users find their services. That’s the old playbook, and it delivered.
However, a radical transformation is now underway in the digital realm. Users aren’t just typing “fantasy movies” anymore, they’re asking complex, conversational questions to AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others.
This shift is significant. A recent survey indicated that 52% of US adults now use large LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot, mirroring a broader global trend.
These platforms don’t just hand over a list of links. They distill information to give direct answers and comprehensive summaries, recommending the perfect binge-watch, genre, or vibe.
If a streaming brand’s strategy remains solely tied to the old SEO tactics, it risks being left behind.
GEO: SHAPING YOUR BRAND’S NARRATIVE
GEO is the process of optimizing your content and messaging so that these generative models can accurately interpret, cite, and present. When a user asks about a streaming service, show, or genre, it ensures your brand’s unique value proposition, expertise, and content are correctly and prominently featured.
Here’s why GEO is paramount for global streaming brands:
Controlling the Narrative
GEO allows you to proactively shape how AI platforms perceive and articulate your brand, ensuring consistent and accurate messaging. Without it, the AI might pull fragmented or inaccurate information, potentially misrepresenting your offerings. Fans of Harry Potter would be confused to see a recommendation for Magic Mike – and that could negatively impact their perception of your brand.
Deeper Understanding of User Intent
Let’s say a user in Germany searches for “packende Krimiserien” (gripping crime series). LLMs ensure that localized tags, genres, and mood descriptors are finely tuned to how German audiences categorize and search for such content. Going beyond basic “crime series” searches, they’ll identify local German productions and globally popular crime series. They’ll then filter these based on what German viewers consider suspenseful or intense. This level of cultural alignment in metadata enables GEO to deliver remarkably precise recommendations and search results.
Enhanced Visibility Beyond Clicks
GEO seeks to be the source of information for AI-generated answers. This means receiving citations from AI overviews, knowledge panels, and conversational responses. For streaming brands, it translates to being the go-to answer when someone asks “What’s the best Nordic Noir series?” or “Which K-Dramas are similar to When Life Gives You Tangerines?”
Building Trust and Authority
AI models prioritize authoritative, reliable sources. Streaming brands need to provide high-quality, accurate, and well-structured content on websites and third-party listings. Such consistency significantly increases the chances of being cited.
Adapting to Conversational Search
Conversational interfaces are increasingly prominent – and approximately 20.5% of people globally now use voice search. As a result, users are naturally employing longer, more natural language queries. GEO ensures content is structured to directly and comprehensively answer these complex questions, making your brand more discoverable. It also helps users find exactly what they’re looking for – whether it’s “What’s a character-focused fantasy series that has a better ending than Game of Thrones?” or another specific query.
Future-Proofing Content Strategy
AI is not a fleeting trend – it’s the future of information discovery. Adopting GEO early can ensure your streaming brand takes up the most real estate in search engines and LLMs alike. This can build brand recognition for users and cement your trustworthiness as an expert in the space.
LLMO: SPEAKING THEIR LANGUAGE SO THEY CAN SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE
While GEO focuses on the output of generative AI, LLMO dives into how AI systems comprehend and process content. LLMO is about structuring your website content and off-site presence (IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes) in a way that is semantically clear, machine-readable, and easily extractable by LLMs. It’s about optimizing for how AI understands your content, not just where it ranks.
Key aspects of LLMO for streaming brands include:
Culturally Nuanced Synopses and Descriptions
LLMs understand cultural differences. That’s why it’s important to transcreate marketing copy, show descriptions, titles, and even character bios to resonate with local cultural sensibilities. A drama’s synopsis might be framed differently in a market that values family ties versus one that emphasizes individual ambition. Transcreation, rather than translation, will ensure content is discovered and understood through a locally relevant lens.
Semantic Clarity and Structure
LLMs process patterns and tokens, not just individual keywords. This means optimizing for clear, concise sentence structures (5-25 words per sentence), using proper subject-action-object construction, and presenting one idea per paragraph. Lists, tables, and subheadings can also help to organize related concepts. This works especially well for descriptions and “vibes” of shows.
Topical Authority and Contextual Relationships
LLMs assess expertise through the depth and contextual relationships within your content. Define core concepts early, use adjacent and related terminology, and align headings with the body content across your website and online presence. Providing clear, concise answers to common user questions, coupled with up-to-date facts and citations, builds topical authority in the eyes of an LLM.
Technical Structure and Schema Markup
LLMs do an excellent job of processing unstructured data. However, your content must be machine-readable to be effectively used as a source. This involves using proper headings, ensuring fast-loading and mobile-responsive pages, and implementing schema markup to provide structured data that AI can easily parse. While these don’t directly improve rankings within Google, they can greatly improve your ability to be pulled into Gemini and AI Overviews.
Multimodal Optimization
AI models are becoming progressively multimodal, interpreting images, videos, diagrams, and more. This means optimizing video content for search with keyword-rich titles, detailed descriptions, and timestamps. Contextual alt text for images and proper schema markup for visual elements are also crucial for AI comprehension.
Conversational Patterns
LLMs favor content that mimics natural conversation. Streaming brands can integrate FAQ-style content, both simple and advanced, to write answers that could be spoken aloud clearly. Anticipating follow-up questions and incorporating analogies can also enhance AI understanding. Strike the perfect balance of writing for people and writing for search engines.
ADAPTING TO THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
The convergence of GEO and LLMO isn’t merely a technical undertaking – it demands a strategic reassessment of how global streaming brands approach their entire content ecosystem. Here’s how to adapt to meet these new needs:
- Audit Existing Content for AI Readiness: Begin by assessing current content for its GEO and LLMO compliance. Are there factual inaccuracies? Is the language clear and concise? Is schema markup implemented correctly? This audit will provide a roadmap for optimization.
- Balance AI and Human Audiences: Content creation should no longer be solely for human readers. It must be designed with AI comprehension in mind. This means focusing on providing direct answers, original research (e.g., viewing trends, audience insights), and unique data that AI models can cite.
- Prioritize EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. Beyond a slick interface and vast library, a localized content strategy is vital. Showcase your expertise and build credibility through targeted, well-researched, off-service content and expert commentary across all markets. This signals your brand as a definitive, trustworthy entertainment source, boosting global visibility.
- Focus on User Intent and Conversational Queries: Move beyond simple keyword matching to understanding the underlying user intent behind queries. Optimize for long-tail keywords and conversational phrasing that reflects how people naturally ask questions.
- Monitor and Iterate: AI is dynamic. Algorithms evolve, and user behaviors shift. Streaming brands must continuously monitor their content’s performance across all platforms, track AI citation rates, and use insights to refine their GEO and LLMO strategies.
FINAL THOUGHT
GEO and LLMO are no longer optional paths forward – they’re foundational pillars for success in today’s digital landscape. Global streaming brands must adapt their content strategies to align with how AI discovers, interprets, and presents information. This will ensure content both reaches and captivates audiences, driving engagement and improving overall subscriber retention.
