LOS ANGELES—Cineverse has debuted cineSearch, its previously announced new content search and discovery service in public Beta. 

Cineverse said that cineSearch, which can be accessed at cineSearch.com, is designed to redefine how audiences interact with movies and TV shows. It features an AI video adviser called Ava with the personality of a favorite film and TV aficionado who gives personalized recommendations to make deciding what to watch fast, simple and entertaining.

 "In our eyes, cineSearch is a win-win-win – using AI to solve actual problems that our industry has to contend with in order to keep serving fans, creators, and all of the platforms that connect the two," said Cineverse chairman and CEO Chris McGurk. "I couldn't be more thrilled to be launching cineSearch in Beta today, introducing Ava to the world, while also officially initiating the go-to-market strategy we have developed that will drive revenue to our company in three ways: by licensing cineSearch to OEMs and streaming platforms as a white-label service; by driving fans to our own streaming brands; and offering a subscription service directly to consumers in the future."

In February, Cineverse announced the plans to develop cineSearch as part of a partnership with Google Cloud.  

Cineverse followed that by announcing partnerships with Vionlabs, Datatonic and Gracenote, a Nielsen company. These partnerships allow cineSearch to offer a comprehensive contextual understanding of filmed content (based on colors, emotions, mood, environments etc.). They also provide access to data on millions of TV shows and movies, along with guardrails and security best practices to ensure that cineSearch is safe, robust, and ethical.

"Now that cineSearch has entered its next phase, our vision is closer to completion and we are excited for our sales team, along with the support of our partners, to engage with OEMs and other potential customers," said Cineverse Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer Tony Huidor. "In early testing, we have seen great engagement from users thus far, who have averaged 41 minutes per session. The public Beta will allow us to collect even more information that will also allow us to take direct consumer feedback and behavior into account as we make additional enhancements, add new features, integrate more enriched metadata and evolve the product even further than it is today."

Consumers are spending more time streaming video content than ever before, and the volume of new content produced by media companies is expanding to feed this insatiable demand. According to a recent report, the SVoD market is projected to grow to $139.20B by 2027. 

In addition to producing huge amounts of new content, broadcasters and video service providers continue to look for ways to monetize existing media. All these assets, old and new, need to be managed efficiently so that they can be easily located. But, somewhat ironically, search capabilities are often overlooked within the media industry. Creating advanced search functionality, which allows users to intuitively locate content is crucial when developing workflows that offer a seamless experience. 

Locating content quickly and effectively is the backbone of broadcast, post-production, and media processes. To manage huge vaults of content, media companies are using increasingly sophisticated Media Asset Management (MAM) systems to maximize their archives. If the right tools are in place, it is possible to improve workflow efficiency with a more intuitive User Interface (UI). This in-turn, improves the  overall User Experience (UX) for media operators, making content search and media processing actions faster, and allowing companies to maximize their resources. 

The Impact of Search Behavior
When it comes to searching for data, humans are creatures of habit. This is not to say that the way humans search is always the same, or even straightforward. In fact, the requirements of an effective search interface tend to be multi-layered, to take into account the complexity of the human mind. However, as complex as humans are, search behavior tends to follow a limited number of recognizable patterns and is determined by a series of independent factors such as subject familiarity and expertise, search experience and cognitive style.

A sophisticated MAM recognizes the fact that users will access the same content via multiple routes. It will also recognize that users search for content using different terms, depending on what they associate with that content. Metadata, such as format, series, season or episode, can help to create associations and relationships between items to improve search and discovery. But metadata needs a well-defined taxonomy, in order to ensure the best results.

Making Search and Discovery more Efficient
Basic searching where you enter search terms and quickly locate what you want from the content that matches your query, becomes more difficult as the volume of content being searched increases exponentially. Being able to refine and filter your search then becomes essential, as does the ability to save search queries to return to them later and manage repetitive tasks. 

An advanced search functionality that allows filtering, faceted search, and tailored searches, allows users to improve their workflows, and find what they need faster. There needs to be multiple paths to the same asset, and a MAM must connect to media processing tools seamlessly, to save time throughout the process. The ability to check the status of content assets and offer an overview, without too much additional navigation, is also important. Users need to confirm information in a high-level view, rather than the time-consuming process of looking through an audit trail. 

More Content – Better Management
With huge content libraries to manage, media businesses rely on advanced search capabilities to maximize efficiency. A well structured User Interface (UI) allows for a better overall User Experience (UX). This is critical because a poor UX is likely to make it difficult or time consuming to find what is being searched for, resulting in user frustration. Not only does improving the search UX prevent users becoming frustrated, but it also allows them to search more instinctively for assets. Next-generation MAM and media supply chain solutions are becoming more intuitive and are increasingly focused on actions from a user’s perspective.

The advantages of utilizing advanced search functionality are not just felt on an individual user level. The organization benefits as a whole because effective search functionality makes processes more efficient and optimizes workflows. After all, your team's time is your most precious resource, so it needs to be used effectively. Instead of organizing content solely by overarching topics such as media property, season or episode, metadata-driven workflows allow users to drill into more detail. 

One such use case could be a travel series wanting to find all content produced at beach locations containing a particular presenter, perhaps for an end of season special or for promotional purposes. In this instance metadata automates what would have been a hugely time-consuming manual process. 

By understanding search behavior, and adapting functionality to make searching more effective, media organizations can improve workflow efficiency, create better user experiences, as well as maximizing resources. Not only is an ability to easily find content that meets very specific requirements incredibly useful, but it also unlocks monetization opportunities. As the competition in the streaming sector increases, and consumer appetite grows, unlocking the archive will prove invaluable for media organizations.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – March 26, 2019 – At NAB 2019 TVU Networks, the global technology and innovation leader in live IP solutions, will announce the new MediaMind Appliance, a metadata generation and search engine that speeds production performance and content reuse within an existing broadcast media supply chain. The system uses a combination of time-code and AI-based facial and speech recognition to generate metadata. And an open API lets users connect directly with MAM and NLE systems. TVU Networks will exhibit in booth #C1707 during the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month.

“TV stations and news agencies have considerable media assets, but how can they be considered assets if they can’t be reused and repurposed?” said Paul Shen, CEO, TVU Networks. “While there are many ways to measure the value of content in the media industry, there are ultimately only two: who gets to the audience first and what content is viewed and reused the most? The faster the content spreads, the more it is reused and repurposed, the greater the value of the content and the lower the production cost. That’s what’s driven the creation of the TVU MediaMind appliance and the entire MediaMind workflow.”

Because the MediaMind appliance utilizes both AI and time code to generate search results, it can convert audio and video into structured data in real-time. It’s capable of searching a raw asset at any stage of production – from assignment through to on-air. With the help of TVU’s AI engine, real-time speech recognition lets users find text results even faster than they would searching for images alone. Users simply type in what they’re looking for and the appropriate section of a time code appears. The real-time content search engine uses time code to identify each asset with a unique ID.

Clips can be marked and saved for immediate use. There’s no need to wait for pre-production to finish or for the video file to be entered into the MAM system. With the reporter still on scene, the clip is ready to go online or on-air.

The TVU MediaMind appliance is part of a TVU SaaS model that uses the TVU MediaMind server (dual-channel VS3500/VS3100 models) as the edge server. The servers can receive video signals from any TVU Networks’ transmission device as well as process IP streams of standard transmission protocol, SDI video, and store files in any MAM system. They are professional video hardware decoders designed for the centralized viewing, control and distribution of live video content.

In addition to the MediaMind appliance, the MediaMind ecosystem includes the following cloud-based products: TVU Producer for multi-camera live video production; TVU Remote Production System (RPS) for remote production using a broadcaster’s existing studio control room and a public Internet connection from the field; TVU CAS (Contribution Automation Solution) for the identification of all video acquisition resources on a given story at acquisition; TVU Grid - an IP-based video switching, routing and distribution solution; and TVU Grid Market, a central source for content owners to contribute and pull video enabling assets to be shared and sold on a global scale. 

New York City, NY - November 28, 2018 - Global content marketplace Pond5 today released the latest evolution of its industry-leading AI-powered Visual Search for video, with the addition of Color Similarity to its growing suite of proprietary Visual Search tools. The new update adds the ability to search for video based on the color palette of selected imagery, in addition to the composition of the image.

As media professionals increasingly face the challenge of putting visual concepts into words to find content that matches the vision for their projects, Visual Search simplifies the process by taking words out of the equation. Users can search based on the composition or color palette of other video clips from the Pond5 collection; by uploading any video or image from their own computer; or even by taking a photo from their mobile device to search based on what they see in real time.

“Content creators know what they want when they see it, but it is not always possible to express it in a handful of words. Visual Search tools like Color Similarity help them find what they need more intuitively, and evolving these tools is a natural next step for Pond5’s AI-powered search capabilities,” said Jason Teichman, Pond5 CEO. “Additionally, we pride ourselves on having the most comprehensive collection of royalty-free media assets, and our data tells us that people using our Visual Search tools are four times more likely to quickly find the exact content they’re looking for.”

As part of the update, Pond5 Visual Search tools now include two options: Composition Search, which was released in April at NAB 2018, and new Color Search. Using Composition Search, Pond5 produces search results based on the actual objects in the video being used to perform a search. Color Search provides an alternative path, producing results that are visually similar based on the color palette of the video frame.

Stock footage is increasingly serving the dual purposes of creative inspiration and complementing original footage in projects at every level, and the addition of color search to Pond5’s discovery toolset is crucial to helping customers find content that will match the look and feel of their projects. Pond5’s powerful Visual Search tools, combined with keyword searches and dozens of other available filters enable customers to narrow their search results down from the tens of thousands to a select few of the highest quality and best fit.

“By investing in this forward-thinking technology, we’re giving Pond5 customers the tools they need to find better content faster, enabling them to work more efficiently and focus on their craft,” said Teichman. “As the world becomes more visual, our customers can remain assured that Pond5 tools are keeping pace with emerging technologies.”

To learn more about Pond5’s Visual Search tools or to schedule a one-on-one briefing with an AI search expert, please contact Megan Linebarger at megan@zazilmediagroup.com to schedule a briefing.

About Pond5

Pond5 is the world’s largest, most vibrant video-first content marketplace, providing filmmakers, creators, and producers of all kinds with the content, inspiration, and tools they need to improve their projects. As the only content marketplace that meaningfully shares licensing revenue with its contributing artists, Pond5 is driven by a commitment to its passionate and growing global community of more than 60,000 professional visual and audio creators, providing a platform where their creative work can flourish, and helping them to make a sustainable living. With groundbreaking features like the visual search for video and integrations into all major video-editing software, Pond5 is innovating daily, making it easier to find and use the content that creatives need to bring their vision to life. Pond5 is a venture-backed company funded by Accel Partners and Stripes Group with offices in New York, Dublin, Prague, London, and LA.

For more information, please visit https://www.pond5.com.

Press Contact:

Megan Linebarger

Zazil Media Group

(e) megan@zazilmediagroup.com

(p) +1 (617) 480-3674

NEW YORK—There is more shows and web content to watch nowadays than people know what to do with. As a result, the ability to sift through it all with the help from a service provider to something that a consumer would find appealing is a crucial element for them. A recent study conducted by Censuswide and commissioned by online video business builder Piksel found that many consumers aren’t overly satisfied with their current options.

The study indicates that consumers spend an average of 16 minutes searching for content, and if they don’t find anything they like they look elsewhere; half say they would change the channel, 19 percent would change providers, and 38 percent say they would switch off entirely.

One of the key elements indicated by respondents in the survey was the ability for search and discovery. As many as 23 percent of respondents said they pick their service provider off the quality of its search and discovery experiences. This includes things like recommendations, which respondents have been less than impressed with. Up to 41 percent of respondents think suggestions made by broadcasters and OTT providers are hit and miss, while only 16 percent said they are accurate.

Consumers don’t know how to fix it either, as nearly half (49 percent) were unable to answer how search and discovery could be improved in its current state. However, many respondents (69 percent) thought the ability to search by theme, emotion, character personality or action, could be a step in the right direction.

“What this research is showing is that there is the appetite for improved content search methods, as well as for better, more accurate recommendations from their providers on what to watch,” said Fabrice Hamaide, president of Piksel. “More and more this is where metadata tools come in and help organizations streamline those processes and ultimately deliver relevant, targeted content that will keep audiences engaged for longer.”

Censuswide conducted its research with 2,207 respondents in the U.K. and U.S. this past November. To read the full report, click here.