Entertainment Metadata Genres & Content Discovery

0 comments
TV genres
Earlier this week Recode’s Peter Kafka wrote an editorial that posited an intriguing question:

“If the future of TV really is apps, who’s going to help us figure out what we should be watching on those apps?”

Excellent inquiry, Peter. The answer is television metadata suppliers, like FYI Television.

Part of highly-curated TV metadata involves genres and categories for shows and movies; these tags allow recommendation engines and content discovery systems to offer related suggestions to viewers.

However, it’s important that an entertainment metadata vendor is accurate and precise when it comes to assigning these genres and categories.

In several cases, it becomes abundantly clear that many vendors have problems.

Like here, where 1989 horror film “Puppet Master” is described by this metadata supplier as “Hobbies & Crafts.”

Or in this example, where a metadata company designates the Arlington Million horse race as belonging to “Water Sports” and “Boating” genres.

In this instance, a flawed metadata service has decided reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” should be in the “Education” category.

This metadata company believes that 1980s classic “Dirty Dancing” is a “Historical/Period Drama.”

And in addition to getting the host’s name wrong (It’s Jimmy Fallon, not Frank Fallon), a metadata vendor thinks that “The Tonight Show” should have the “Action/Adventure/Animated” genres.

It’s defective TV metadata like the previously mentioned examples illustrate that can seriously cause damage to suggestion and recommendation services.

This is what can happen when entertainment metadata is extremely inadequate. A viewer was informed that because he enjoys violent HBO fantasy “Game of Thrones,” he might also like wholesome family drama “The Waltons” and religion-inspired series “Touched by an Angel.” Talk about being misguided.

In summation, indeed if television is headed into a realm where apps will be largely responsible for advising audiences about TV shows and movies, it is enriched metadata that will be powering those apps.

As such, developers or businesses that require metadata for these purposes should demand accuracy.

Author: Brian Cameron

Image via Shutterstock.

Free e-Book: 7 Directives for How To Choose the Best TV Metadata Supplier

Post a Comment