Aiming to help streaming services create next generation user experiences, and bridge over-the-top and broadcast content, Gracenote is to help on-demand video streaming services, smart TV makers and traditional cable and satellite operators deliver next-gen content navigation, search and discovery.
Quoting research from Statista, and explaining the rationale for its new move, Gracenote said that the concentration of US. viewers that subscribe to three or more streaming services more than doubled from 21% in 2017 to 45% in 2019.
The company added that these new services seek to integrate into traditional broadcast EPGs while cable and satellite providers aim to deliver seamless experiences across linear TV and native OTT apps. It also believes that critical to the user experience is ensuring the content displayed shares the same parental controls, universal search and similar discovery features while smart TV manufacturers are having to navigate the multitude of streaming services and managing endless proprietary feeds and ID systems.
To help the OTT services gain competitive advantages and increase viewer loyalty, Gracenote is making available Unique IDs to provide connectivity between related content assets to power universal search capabilities which surface TV show and movie availability across different services and make possible easy one-click viewing. Deep descriptive metadata is designed to enable intuitive content navigation and nuanced recommendations based on descriptor criteria such as mood, theme, setting and character attributes.
Custom content imagery functionality populates OTT guide interfaces and carousels with film and TV series, season and episode-level images, enabling visual navigation and enhancing binge-viewing sessions. Streaming service feeds provide deep linking, audio/video quality, content availability and a critical data structure required to integrate a streaming service into mobile, set-top boxes and smart TVs.
“While much of the focus in the ‘Streaming Wars’ conversation has been on the largest catalogues and original content, the winners will also understand how to successfully integrate with a diverse set of video platforms,” said Simon Adams, chief product officer at Gracenote. “As this new generation of video providers emerges, Gracenote is playing to its long-standing role providing the critical metadata, unique IDs and rich imagery that power killer user experiences and drive tune-in and engagement.”