How AI Will Revolutionize Streaming
AI is the biggest buzzword in entertainment and technology right now.
While it feels as if the whole world is on the tipping point of unleashing artificial intelligence across industries, VIP+’s recent special reports Generative AI & Entertainment and Generative AI & Intellectual Property Law outline the various ways AI will impact the business of content.
Streaming, whether free or subscription, ad supported or ad free, linear channels or on demand, will be no different. Industry heads from FAST have long told VIP+ that AI will be a key factor in unlocking the true benefits of the streaming format, with this equally applicable to AVOD and SVOD.
The way we stream is going to change rapidly, but most of it will not be noticed by the average consumer, as the tweaks will be made under the hood with regard to advertising and content recommendations but also in making new content available.
AI integrated into advertising will vastly improve the relevancy of what ad-supported services show users. A key differential will be between services that require a user profile and those that don’t, with profile-enabled services able to target ads based upon demographics.
This may see the free services that don’t currently require a login to do so, but it is also equally possible that machine learning and AI-powered algorithms based upon user preference and behavior may also be able to target viewers on a personalized level not seen before and avoid the need for a user barrier such as login requirements.
Content recommendation is where AI will come into its own. Some services, such as Pluto TV, curate their own channels via content experts. That won’t necessarily go away, but what will change is how FAST channels or on-demand titles are displayed.
For AVOD and SVOD, this will be enhancing algorithms that already exist to display movies and TV shows most likely to appeal to users, not to mention adding additional preference layers such as the type of content the viewer typically watches by daypart and time of the year.
FAST will see additional layers of AI-powered recommendation. The first will be in the electronic programming guides (EPG) that most FAST services provide. The number of channels per service varies from 60 to over 400, meaning discoverability is getting more difficult.
AI changes that. It means a service can offer 800+ channels (much like Google TV’s amalgamating service now does) but only show users a much smaller, more relevant selection. Machine learning constantly feeds on updates from all viewers of a service and thus is able to see patterns far beyond human comprehension; personalized recommendations can be anticipated to boost time spent with FAST.
Longer term, AI will be able to go a step beyond EPG channel recommendations and create personalized channels based upon user preference (again, nuanced by seasonality and time of day).
The continued enhancement of AI dubbing offers another example of the changes AI will bring streaming. At its core, AI dubbing is a technology that takes content made in one language and turns it into another. When the technology was first launched, it did have issues with tone for some content (i.e., true crime) but machine learning means it is improving daily.
The rise of companies like Papercup and SyncWords means content that was once limited by region and a minority who would read subtitles can now access international markets. This will be of considerable interest to free streaming services, given the focus from the 2023 NewFronts on content exclusivity, and should the 2023 WGA strike go long, for all entertainment companies, especially as AI dubbing can see a fast turnaround on content.
AI dubbing coupled with deepfake technology presents tantalizing opportunities for the future. Pioneering generative AI firms like Metaphysic, which has partnered with Creative Artists Agency to develop hyperreal AI content for CAA talent and are working with Miramax on de-aging Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the upcoming movie “Here,” offer the possibility of a world where talent likenesses can be licensed to provide the voice for the dubbed content, with AI seamlessly providing lip-syncing to provide greater realism.
One reason this is a longer-term possibility for AI and streaming is the fact that this will entail new agreements with talent, as well as raising ethical concerns around elements such as whether the talent is really fluent in a language.
AI therefore offers the possibility of better ads for viewers, better content recommendations, personalized streaming channels and more content availability. Content companies need to be exploring what the technology can and will offer now, or they will have to swim upstream as their competitors embrace first-mover opportunities.
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