Data Methodology

FlixGeo uses a source identifier, not a title string alone, to distinguish movies, TV shows, people, and seasons. This matters when two works share a name or when a remake has a different release year. Availability is associated with that resolved movie or TV record; it is not transferred to a similarly named work.

Source-supplied fields such as synopsis, release date, cast, genres, images, ratings, and provider names are normalized for display. We do not treat a popularity score or user rating as an independent FlixGeo review.

Provider availability is grouped by ISO country code. Each country is evaluated on its own; a result in one territory is not evidence for another. The selected country refers to the market represented in the upstream dataset, not the viewer's physical location, nationality, account region, or right to bypass geographic restrictions.

The upstream watch-provider record separates ways to watch. FlixGeo maps those buckets to consistent labels and keeps materially different transactions separate.

• Subscription: listed in a flat-rate catalog.
• Free: classified by the source as free access.
• With ads: classified as ad-supported access.
• Rent: a time-limited transaction.
• Buy: a digital purchase offer under the store's terms.

These labels do not establish price, plan tier, resolution, language, accessibility features, edition, or account eligibility unless those details are separately verified.

The application caches upstream responses to reduce latency and unnecessary API traffic. Cache windows vary across endpoints, and provider catalogs can change before a cached response expires. A displayed provider result therefore describes the latest data available to that page, not guaranteed real-time inventory.

We only display a “last checked” time when it comes from a real, traceable refresh event. The current time, a page render time, or an invented editorial update date is not a substitute for data provenance.

An empty provider list can mean that no mapped offer was returned for that title and country. A failed source request can mean the data is temporarily unavailable. Neither state justifies inserting a popular provider, copying a result from another country, or presenting a sample fixture as current data.

Where the application can distinguish those states, it should show “no offer returned” separately from “data unavailable.” When it cannot, the wording should remain cautious and direct the reader to the provider for confirmation.