Nielsen unit help streaming services with search and navigation

Gracenote said it is providing data to help over-the-top services in Europe develop program guides and deliver better search and navigation capabilities to viewers.

The Nielsen unit said the expansion makes it the leading OTT guide provider, covering 13 markets in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Gracenote’s data is also being used by smart TV makers to help consumers deal with the myriad streaming services that are popping up and manage proprietary feeds and ID systems.

“While much of the focus in the ‘Streaming Wars’ conversation has been on the largest catalogs and original content, the winners will also understand how to successfully integrate with a diverse set of video platforms,” said Simon Adams, chief product officer at Gracenote. “As this new generation of video providers emerges, Gracenote is playing to its long-standing role providing the critical metadata, unique IDs and rich imagery that power killer user experiences and drive tune-in and engagement.”

Gracenote said it offers a number of services to streaming services aimed at making finding content to watch easier. Those include:

• Unique Gracenote IDs, which provide connectivity between related content assets to power universal search capabilities which surface TV show and movie availability across different services and make possible easy one-click viewing;

• Deep Descriptive Metadata, enabling intuitive content navigation and nuanced recommendations that connect viewers to the shows and movies they love - and discover new ones to enjoy - based on Advanced Video Descriptors criteria such as mood, theme, setting and character attributes;

• Custom Content Imagery to populate OTT Guide interfaces and carousels with iconic movie and TV series, season and episode-level images as well as cast/celebrity photos that capture the essence of content - enabling visual navigation and enhancing binge-viewing sessions; and

• Streaming Service Feeds that provide deep linking, audio/video quality, content availability and a critical data structure required to integrate a streaming service into mobile, set-top boxes and Smart TVs.