Connections
Rovi: Make Content Discovery Easy for Consumers
Story Highlights
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — During the Hollywood IT Society’s (HITS) recent “Holly-wired: Where IT and Entertainment Meet” event, Michael Jeffrey, VP of market solutions for Rovi, asked a pretty simple question of content owners and distributors: “Is our metadata ready?”
And — backed up with recent research and consumer responses — Jeffrey’s answer was simple: “It’s not,” he said, pointing to Rovi research showing that nearly 70% of consumers pick their viewing outlet based on how easy it is to find the content they want. Nearly 75% told Rovi they’re still looking for a universal search option for all their content needs, and 54% of viewers say that — due to all the content options out there — it’s hard to know where to start to find what they want.
Jeffrey shared examples of what content owners are doing right, and where they’re failing, when it comes to metadata and their catalogues of content. And so much of what’s done right revolves around imagery. Movie poster art, TV show cards, network logos, cast head shots, production stills … these are the things that define good content, he said.
“Metadata imagery is a marketing tool for the industry,” he said. “Metadata is an asset’s resume, and it’s really important [that] your asset is actionable, has compelling and easily searchable descriptions, and the imagery needs to be emotional, and it needs to engage.”
Too often, he sees metadata associated with content basically scream to viewers “this show is boring,” Jeffrey said. And when three quarters of consumers say finding content is difficult, the last thing you want your content to be is metadata-poor and undiscoverable, he added.
Jeffrey also used his time at “Holly-wired” to pitch the importance of the Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) (first launched in late 2010 by Rovi, Comcast, Movielabs and CableLabs), which serves as a universal, unique ID system for movie and TV assets. He ticked off the reasons why having content enabled with EIDR is important: increased efficiency, B2B delivery of metadata and content, less manual processing of content, and speedier time to digital sales.
