Pace is taking a deeper dive into personalization by adding ThinkAnalytics’ recommendation engine into its Cobalt Media Head End and software.
While recommendation engines are still somewhat of a novelty to cable operators, London-based ThinkAnalytics first deployed its multi-platform personalized recommendation engine in 2006. Earlier this summer, the company announced that it had surpassed 70 million licensed viewers across 16 countries in eight languages.
“We work hard to stay a step ahead of the market, so our customers have the flexibility to incorporate the latest services at their own choosing. With intelligent search and content recommendations, operators can help simplify content discovery and present new programming options that personalize the overall TV experience,” said Chris Briggs, senior vice president of products and solutions at Pace. “ThinkAnalytics’ recommendations platform scales to fit the needs of our mutual customer base with years of proven personalized content recommendations deployment. We look forward to an ongoing relationship as we continue to expand services and develop new capabilities together.”
More than 25 service providers worldwide have deployed ThinkAnalytics’ recommendation engine, including BSkyB, Virgin Media, ITV and Telenet. The recommendation engine works across set-top boxes, tablets, mobile devices, email and the Internet. While some recommendation engines function on a household level, ThinkAnalytics’ platform can serve up recommendations to individuals.
Cable operators and other service providers can upsell premium channels, VOD and pay-per-view opportunities based on recommendations, as well as use the platform to reduce churn.
Cobalt Media Head End is part of Pace’s Elements software suite that delivers customizable, fast, highly visual and interactive services across various devices. Cobalt attaches detailed metadata to content to support search and discovery, helping service providers maximize revenue opportunity from their valuable content.
“This partnership underscores the importance that robust recommendations and intelligent viewing play in helping service providers maximize their TV content,” said Peter Docherty, founder and CTO of ThinkAnalytics. “We are pleased that our technology is helping bring a better entertainment experience on large-scale, multi-platform deployments worldwide.”
ThinkAnalytics and Pace are demonstrating the joint offering at IBC this week in Amsterdam.
