Advanced Television

ThinkAnalytics predicts “sophisticated voice search” in 2019

December 20, 2018

Although we all enjoy the benefits of the engagement economy, including personalised experiences when shopping online or using social media, many pay-TV providers, OTT players, broadcasters and studios still have work to do to build closer relationships with their audiences, says ThinkAnalytics.

Peter Docherty, founder and CTO at ThinkAnalytics, has offered his 2019 predicitions pertaining to these modes of engagement:

Campaigns in minutes

Viewers typically spend just seconds browsing dozens of programmes before choosing to watch something or moving on. Video service providers have a small window to offer the right content at the right time.

To meet this need, Docherty believes that in 2019 operators will deploy integrated personalised marketing and editorial tools in an agile environment that update the UX as fast as viewers’ tastes evolve. No more Excel planning required as analytics tools use customer behaviour to update promotions in real time.

Dynamic UIs aren’t easy

Creating a dynamic, personalised UI is hard because it needs an entire ecosystem to work together to complete the digital jigsaw.

In 2019, Docherty expects to see more AI-powered UIs that grab the viewer’s attention and lead them to parts of the service they don’t usually look at – all underpinned by a deep understanding of every customer’s likes and dislikes.

Sophisticated voice search

Last year ThinkAnalytics predicted that voice search would take off.  While a number of video service providers are offering voice capabilities, Parks Research finds the abandon rate is high – operators have just 1.7 chances to get voice right or users go back to the remote. In 2019, Docherty believes will see operators learning from this and embracing natural language.

Universal audience insight

In 2019 Docherty expects a surge in interest from public broadcasters, channels and other content owners who want insight across anonymous, registered users and paying subscribers – sometimes all within the same service. Pay-TV operators as well as public broadcasters, such as the BBC, are starting to engage with their audience by deploying recommendations and analysis tools. This allows them to understand their viewers, customise the experience and demonstrate value for money to tax payers and licence holders.

Super aggregation

In the engagement economy, consumers demand a fluid experience across all broadcast, VoD, catch-up and OTT services on any device. They don’t expect to have to know which service offers which programme. Operators are starting to experiment but in 2019 we expect to see a move towards super aggregation with universal search, recommendations and navigation at its core.

Categories: Articles, IPG, Middleware, Search/Recommendation