Gracenote Video ID Distribution System
September 12, 2019
Colin Mann @ IBC
Media and entertainment metadata provider Gracenote, a Nielsen company, is launching a new Video ID Distribution System aimed at enabling creators and owners of media programming to distribute more easily their movies, TV shows, short-form videos and other related content to global OTT services, smart device manufacturers and cable and satellite TV providers.
Using the Gracenote ID Distribution system, studios and networks will be able to register their content with Gracenote‘s Video Database and easily obtain connected Gracenote IDs to enable better search and discovery in programme guides, interfaces and OTT catalogues. In addition, they can submit their own descriptive metadata, tags and imagery which Gracenote will editorially review and prepare for broad distribution.
The entertainment industry is in the midst of a massive growth cycle as new services, platforms and devices crave more and more content to compete for audiences and mindshare. As the volume of video content grows, these services require improved descriptive metadata and universal identifiers to ensure their catalogues are well organised so that viewers can easily search for and find what they want to watch.
According to the company, Gracenote ID Distribution brings order to the chaos, providing the connective tissue that makes video content searchable across services, platforms and devices. Gracenote IDs and metadata provide common links between TV series, seasons and episodes, as well as related TV and movie genres, celebrities, and other descriptive information. This promises to improve how Hollywood blockbusters, independent films and short-form videos alike are distributed to and surfaced in pay TV and OTT catalogues, as well as accessed by fans.
“For years, the industry has relied on Gracenote to help organise numerous and vast catalogues of popular TV shows and movies,” noted Simon Adams, Gracenote’s Chief Product Officer. “With the growing popularity of new original programmes and short-form video, our global customers face new challenges connecting users to all the content they have to offer. The new Gracenote ID Distribution system will help creators and owners secure the broadest possible distribution of their programming while providing leading VoD and OTT services a means to easily identify and access relevant metadata for next-generation search and discovery experiences.”
Through Gracenote ID Distribution, content creators and owners can:
- Submit movies, TV programmes or short form video content for inclusion in Gracenote’s Video Database which brings together metadata, linear schedules and VOD/OTT catalogues for more than 85 countries.
- Receive certified Gracenote IDs at the beginning of the content lifecycle ensuring that their offerings are not just listed but also easily searchable across different Video services, platforms and catalogues.
- Drive the widest possible distribution of their video content to the world’s top VoD and OTT services and smart device manufacturers.
With major Video streaming services home to so much content, on average around 40,000 TV episodes and movies, long-tail programming can face ‘discoverability’ challenges. Professionally produced short-form videos, which delve deeper into the storylines, themes and characters of popular TV shows, have the power to captivate existing fans and attract new users to services. The company says that through connected metadata and content IDs, it becomes easy to display episodes of the short-form video content alongside episodes of the related long-form content. This enables Video services to drive deeper engagement with viewers and provide a one-stop shop for all related content.