Taste
Taste is a free consumer entertainment discovery platform that delivers personalized movie and TV show recommendations by matching users with peers who share similar viewing preferences. Founded in 2018, it serves 800,000+ registered users across 150+ countries via web and mobile apps.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Taste does
Taste Labs, Inc. is a privately held, New York-based consumer entertainment discovery platform founded in 2018 by John Lin (CEO) and Justin Messina (CTO). The company operates Taste, a free application that delivers personalized movie and TV show recommendations by matching each user with peers who share similar viewing preferences, rather than relying on conventional algorithmic or commercially-biased scoring. The platform serves over 800,000 registered users across more than 150 countries and is available as a web application and on iOS and Android app stores.
The core technology is a proprietary taste-matching algorithm that compares a user's rating history and review patterns against those of other users to generate personalized recommendations. The catalog layer is powered by The Movie Database (TMDb), which supplies metadata, cast, and images, while streaming availability data is sourced from JustWatch, enabling integration with major streaming services including Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and Max. User taste profiles strengthen as users rate more content, add attributes, and engage with reviews.
The business model is freemium with three disclosed revenue streams: premium subscriptions (managed through iTunes, Google Play, or the Taste website), advertising, and user-funded support. Taste positions itself as 'completely independent and funded by its own users,' having raised approximately $947K across six equity crowdfunding tranches on StartEngine between 2018 and November 2023. The company is headquartered at 833 Broadway, Floor 2, New York, with additional staff in California, Canada, and London, and reports 1-10 employees.
Taste firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Taste
- Legal name
- Taste Labs, Inc.
- Website
- https://taste.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Taste is a free consumer entertainment discovery platform that delivers personalized movie and TV show recommendations by matching users with peers who share similar viewing preferences. Founded in 2018, it serves 800,000+ registered users across 150+ countries via web and mobile apps.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Taste industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Content Discovery & Recommendation Software
- akta.pro primary industry
- Topic/Interest-Based Content Discovery Apps (MPACAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Music Discovery & Curation Platforms (Recommendations, Playlists) (MPAIACAH)
Keywords
Where Taste is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Taste business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Premium Subscriptions: The platform offers premium subscription accounts that can be managed through iTunes, Google Play Store, or the website. Users can upgrade for additional features.
- Advertising: Third-party advertisements are delivered through the service, contextually related to user location, usage behavior, or other provided information.
- User-Funded Model: The company states it is completely independent and funded by its own users, indicating a community-supported revenue approach alongside other streams.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier with core recommendation features |
| Subscription | Annual | Premium subscription for additional features |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Taste product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Taste operates a free entertainment discovery platform (web and mobile) that uses a proprietary taste-matching algorithm to connect users with other users who share similar viewing preferences, then recommends their favorite movies and TV shows. The platform integrates streaming-availability data from JustWatch and metadata from The Movie Database (TMDb), and also delivers contextual third-party advertising within the service.
Product overview
Taste is a free entertainment discovery platform that consolidates streaming content recommendations across movies and TV shows. Its core product is the Taste platform (available as a web app and mobile app) that uses a proprietary taste-matching algorithm to connect users with other users who share their unique viewing preferences, generating personalized recommendations from those peers rather than from algorithmic scoring. The platform covers content across major streaming services and aggregates availability data from JustWatch while sourcing its catalog metadata from The Movie Database (TMDb).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Taste (Web App) Free web application that lets users rate movies and TV shows, discover content recommended by users with the most similar viewing preferences, browse curated categories and trending content, and access a personalized streaming guide.
- Taste (Mobile App) Native mobile application available on iOS and Android that provides the same taste-matching and personalized movie and TV recommendation features as the web platform, enabling users to rate, review, and discover content on the go.
Quantifiable outcome
- 800,000+ registered users
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Taste
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Taste technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability2 records
Feature3 records
Taste partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- The Movie Database (TMDb)coreTaste is powered by The Movie Database (TMDb), which provides the underlying movie and TV show metadata, cast information, images, and content database that drives the platform's recommendation engine.
- JustWatchcoreTaste is powered by JustWatch, which provides streaming availability data showing users where they can watch recommended movies and TV shows across various streaming platforms.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Taste competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Letterboxd: Social movie journal where users rate, review, and discover films based on like-minded cinephiles. Closest direct peer to Taste, sharing the user-driven rating/review model and taste-matching ethos in the same movie-discovery vertical.
- Mubi: Curated film discovery service blending editorial selection with social and personalization features for cinephiles. Comparable to Taste in targeting film-lovers with discovery beyond mainstream recommendations, though Mubi adds a streaming/subscription layer.
- Reelgood: Streaming-availability aggregator that surfaces where to watch movies and TV across services with personalized recommendations. Directly comparable to Taste in using JustWatch-style availability data to power a unified discovery experience across streaming platforms.
- TV Time: Social TV tracking and discovery app where users log episodes, write reviews, and get recommendations based on their viewing history. Overlaps with Taste on the TV-discovery side and on community-driven taste matching, with similar freemium app-store distribution.
Emerging players
- Likewise: Personalized content recommendations across movies, TV, books, and podcasts based on user taste profiles. Smaller and earlier-stage than Taste in some respects, with a comparable cross-category ambition but weaker traction to date.
Broad incumbents
- IMDb: Amazon-owned dominant movie/TV database with ratings, reviews, watchlists, and recommendations. Established broad incumbent in the same space, explicitly called out by Taste as a differentiator target on commercial bias and personalization depth.
- Rotten Tomatoes: Major movie review aggregator combining critic and audience scores with editorial content. A larger, established player in movie discovery explicitly named by Taste as a comparator its taste-matching approach aims to disrupt.
- Fandango: Movie ticketing and discovery platform with reviews, ratings, and theatrical showtimes. Named by Taste as part of the established set its decentralized peer-review model differentiates against; broader scope but weaker personalization.
- Metacritic: Aggregated critic and user scores across movies, TV, music, and games. A broad incumbent in the review-aggregation space that Taste's taste-matching model positions against, particularly on commercial bias and personalization.
Others
- JustWatch: Streaming availability search engine and consumer app that powers Taste's where-to-watch data. Functions simultaneously as a data partner and an adjacent consumer product with overlapping discovery value, making it a thematic peer as much as a direct competitor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Taste social profiles
Digital presenceTaste financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Taste leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Taste funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Taste M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Taste
What does Taste do?
Taste operates a free entertainment discovery platform (web and mobile) that uses a proprietary taste-matching algorithm to connect users with other users who share similar viewing preferences, then recommends their favorite movies and TV shows. The platform integrates streaming-availability data from JustWatch and metadata from The Movie Database (TMDb), and also delivers contextual third-party advertising within the service.
Is Taste a public or private company?
Taste is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Taste founded?
Taste was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Taste based?
Taste is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Taste make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Premium Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are advertising and user-Funded Model.
Who are Taste's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Letterboxd, Mubi, Reelgood and TV Time. Likewise is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango and Metacritic. JustWatch is listed as an others.
Does Taste have an API?
No public API is recorded for Taste.
What industry is Taste in?
Taste's product category is Content Discovery & Recommendation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAKAB, Topic/Interest-Based Content Discovery Apps, with a secondary code of MPAIACAH, Music Discovery & Curation Platforms (Recommendations, Playlists).