This study challenges dominant assumptions that user autonomy on streaming platforms is largely overridden by algorithmic systems. Based on a national survey ( N = 1,501), we identify three distinct modes of discoverability, browsing, searching, and researching, that reflect how users discover content within and beyond platform structures. Browsing involves undirected exploration through curated menus and algorithmic recommendations; searching is a directed strategy shaped by catalog availability and interface design; and researching relies on external inputs such as social recommendations, media coverage, or third-party tools. These user practices demonstrate that discoverability is not a fixed platform outcome, but a contingent process negotiated between user behavior, platform affordances, and social context. By combining information-seeking theory with critical media research on discoverability, we propose a contingent discoverability model that offers a more nuanced account of how content becomes visible, and how users exercise agency within structured systems of guidance.
Solvoll et al. (Sat,) studied this question.