Gracenote Bows ID Distribution System to Improve Video Search and Discovery

September 13, 2019 |Companies

Gracenote launched a video identification system for content providers Thursday designed to streamline the process for distributing movies, TV shows, short-form videos and other content to over-the-top services, smart-device makers, and cable and satellite TV providers. Citing the “massive growth cycle” of the current entertainment industry, as new services, platforms and devices look for additional content, more descriptive metadata and universal identifiers are needed so viewers can easily search for and find what they want to watch, including via voice assistants, said the company. With the Gracenote Video ID Distribution system, studios and networks can register content with the Nielsen company’s video database and obtain certified Gracenote IDs to improve search and discovery in program guides, interfaces and OTT catalogs, it said. They can also submit their own descriptive metadata, tags and imagery, to be reviewed by Gracenote and then prepared for broad distribution. Gracenote said the system's IDs and metadata provide common links between TV series, seasons and episodes, related TV and movie genres, celebrities, and other descriptive information. It has the potential to improve how Hollywood blockbusters, independent films and short-form videos are distributed to and surfaced in pay-TV and OTT catalogs, it said, and how consumers access them. Streaming service catalogs average 40,000 TV episodes and movies, creating “discoverability challenges,” said Gracenote. It highlighted short-form videos that delve deeper into storylines and characters of popular TV shows as a category that can benefit from Gracenote connected metadata and content IDs: Short-term video content can be easily displayed next to related long-form content, it said. Content creators and owners can submit movies, TV programs or short form video content to the database, which consolidates metadata, linear schedules, VOD and OTT catalogs for more than 85 countries, Gracenote said.