Gracenote, a Nielsen company, has announced the launch of its new Watch Prompts dataset. The dataset is designed to empower video platforms and services with informative, attention-grabbing content that influences viewer decisions. By leveraging machine learning and human editorial expertise, it provides a unique combination of compelling facts, talent highlights, and content comparisons that drive viewership and engagement.
In today’s streaming landscape, viewer indecision is a significant challenge. A recent Nielsen survey revealed that 74% of consumers need help knowing what they want to watch or have only a vague idea when starting a streaming session. Additionally, fewer than 30% feel that current recommendation systems effectively guide them toward content they enjoy. With increased competition among streaming services, personalized and impactful content promotion has become critical for retaining and engaging audiences.
What Gracenote Watch Prompts Offers
Gracenote’s Watch Prompts is designed to solve these challenges by adding layers of meaningful content to program metadata. The dataset integrates seamlessly with Gracenote’s existing Video Descriptors to enhance viewer discovery in three distinct ways:
- Critical Facts: Highlights major award wins or critical praise, showcasing the quality of a TV show or movie. For example, a program like Succession could feature its 13 Emmy wins, emphasizing the series’ prestige to potential viewers.
- Talent Spotlights highlight beloved actors, directors, or creators associated with a piece of content, leveraging star power to appeal to audience preferences.
- Content Comparisons: Provides analogies based on similar themes or genres, giving viewers a new perspective to frame their viewing choices. For instance, a description of Barbie could compare it to Legally Blonde meets The Lego Movie, drawing on familiar content to pique interest.
Combining these elements creates a rich viewer experience to guide on-the-fly decision-making, ultimately increasing time spent on platforms and reducing churn.
AI + Human Expertise = Enhanced Engagement
The innovation behind Watch Prompts lies in its balance of AI-driven efficiency and human oversight. Advanced machine learning models draw on Gracenote’s vast video data library to automatically generate content snippets, while human editors with expertise in language and market trends ensure the information is accurate and engaging. This hybrid approach creates a feedback loop, constantly refining the dataset and improving its ability to resonate with audiences.
Trent Wheeler, Gracenote’s Chief Product Officer, emphasizes the value of this approach: “Watch Prompts leverages the expertise of Gracenote’s human editors along with the scalability of machine learning to deliver a dataset that will help our customers meet the evolving needs of their viewers.”
Driving the Future of Content Discovery
Gracenote has long shaped user experiences for major video platforms, from metadata to contextual advertising. With the introduction of Watch Prompts, Gracenote continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible for content discovery in a rapidly evolving streaming ecosystem. Gracenote’s solutions ultimately help video providers maximize engagement and monetization by enhancing how platforms present content to users.
