M+E Daily

24i Media announced today that they have integrated the cloud-based Microsoft Cognitive Services Recommendations API to enable their customers to easily build a smarter recommendation engine. The Recommendations API is pre-integrated in 24i’s recently launched CMS, SmartOTT Backstage.

“24i Media underscores our commitment to provide our customers with state-of-the-art innovation in cloud technology. ,” said Tony Emerson, Managing Director, Worldwide Media & Cable at Microsoft Corp. “By integrating Recommendations API, part of Microsoft Cognitive Services, 24i allows their clients to customize what’s being fed based on the user history so their customers end up with higher engagement and lower churn – both key metrics for successful OTT services today.”

Today’s viewers expect you to really know them and personalize your recommendations to help them through the search and discovery process. They also expect a service that is personalized and delightful at every stage of the experience from sign-up to discovery and viewing to renewals. With the Microsoft Cognitive Services Recommendations API, using cognitive computing to deliver a number of algorithm-derived results, such as Frequently Bought Together (FBT) products, item-to-item recommendations, and customer-to-item flows, 24i enables their customers to generate higher consumption, customer satisfaction and increased revenues with a smarter recommendation engine.

“The hottest driver for Over-the-Top (OTT) growth is customized, user-specific discovery algorithms – the ability to wow consumers with a stunning personalized user experience.” said Martijn Van Horssen. “By integrating Microsoft Cognitive Services Recommendations API, we empower our customers to take personalization to the next level and significantly reduce customer churn and increase revenue growth.”

Key features in the integrated recommendation API from Microsoft Azure:

Recommendations; Viewers activity in the OTT service is used to recommend items and to improve conversion.
Automated workflow; The integrated recommendation engine automatically prepares an environment for an OTT provider to upload their catalogue and usage data to.
Reuse previous experience to make informed recommendations to viewers.
Use knowledge of customer interest to show related content.
Training; The recommendation engine can be trained by uploading data about past customer activity or by collecting data directly from your OTT service. When the viewer returns to your store you will be able to feature recommended items from your content catalogue that may increase your conversion rate.
Increase the discoverability of their OTT service, across devices and regions. present content to viewers that they haven’t seen before, better discoverability brings more satisfied users who watch more content, which has a positive monetization effects for the operators.