There is no doubt that the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming service will be a major player. Almost all content library alone guarantees this.
However, with an extensive library coming with its own issues and according to a new BI report, WarnerMedia is not only looking to solve this problem, but is embracing it as a selling point. WarnerMedia wants its service to differentiate itself based on how personal it is.
The details in this approach are light and use lots of familiar buzzwords, but the general idea is that WarnerMedia defines content discovery as more than just an integral feature of the service's success.
Almost all streaming services offer different ways to find new content, and these services are usually based on input from the user. This is either from direct user interaction where the user manually configures the look of the homepage and how the content appears, or indirectly depends on the user's past viewing habits.
In some cases, the delivery methods can be brand new and bypass the user. For example, Sling TV just recently announced the launch of a new trend feature that allows Sling TV users to listen to live TV content tuned by other Sling TV users. It's less than the typical "what's going on" feature and more than the "what others see" feature.
With WarnerMedia, simpler content discovery methods are unlikely to be helpful, and that's simply because of the amount of content WarnerMedia now occupies.
The new streaming service mainly relies on content from HBO, Turner, and Warner Bros. , Although there's also a suggestion that Cinemax will be brought into the mix as well.
Regardless, content is key to WarnerMedia's service and all indications are that the company is looking to feed as much content as possible to users in an effort to justify the high price of competition.
Even using traditional detection metrics to create recommendations, it may only scratch the surface of the available library and this is especially true considering that home pages and screens are somewhat limited in the amount of content that can display at a given time.
To address these issues, the report highlights how WarnerMedia used the recently established WarnerMedia Innovation Lab to look at more advanced detection solutions.
Yes, at the moment, it appears to be based on regular machine learning and advances in artificial intelligence, but again, comments from the General Manager of the lab indicate that the service will approach content discovery in an individualized and data-driven manner.
One suggested way to achieve this is through a broader understanding of the user's scene type. For example, people who are more sports focused may experience a completely different user experience than those who are more interested in movies.
Interestingly, the data used to come to these user conclusions is unlikely to just come from observations made by users during the experiment or questions at the surface level. WarnerMedia appears to be looking to anticipate user needs more in this regard, and is likely to rely on information gathered about the user from wireless data banks, broadband and pay TV.
In other words, the more any user is linked to the broader AT&T ecosystem, the more data from those other weapons will be entered into WarnerMedia's streaming service with the goal of providing more relevant content - and, of course, more user-specific ads.
Again, the details are a bit vague at the moment, as behind the scenes they don't want to give too much ahead of time, but the important point to note here is that WarnerMedia doesn't simply view content discovery as a necessary feature, but it can be used to set WarnerMedia streaming service apart from all other streaming services currently available.
That, and how likely a service would be that relied on user data gathered from nearly anywhere AT&T could find it.
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