Showmax knows what you want for lunch, dinner – how AI is used to deliver different shows at different times
Showmax knows what you want for lunch, dinner – how AI is used to deliver different shows at different times
TV IN-DEPTH: News24 Lifestyle Editor Herman Eloff sits down with Barry Dubovsky, COO at MultiChoice Connected Video, to talk about the recipe to success when using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to cook up something consumers will love the taste of.
Imagine a buffet set out the length of a dining hall. The large white table stretched from one side of the room to the other. It’s packed with food everywhere it can fit, from fresh breakfast croissants to scrambled eggs, vegan sausages, lunch sandwiches, fruit, soups, sauces, vegetables, meats, plates of pasta, loaves of bread, cakes, tarts, and perfectly made ganache centred chocolate truffles. When you stand at the one end of the table, it’s impossible to see what’s waiting on the other.
You’ve got your small little plate, and it’s time to choose what you want. But where do you start? How do you know what you’ll like? Can you taste some of it first? What if there’s something on the table you didn’t know about?
Well, there’s a solution. Welcome your personal chef. He will give you some snacks to try and will soon learn what your palette prefers. He’ll show you more of what you like and even suggest some new foods to try. If you don’t finish a meal, he might offer something else. He’ll be the perfect host to help you eat what you like when you like.
Now let’s take this example and apply it to Video on Demand (VOD) services. Turn all that food into TV shows and films, and your personal chef is Artificial Intelligence (AI). In 2022, VOD and AI go together like jam on toast.
“It’s been a massive priority for us over the last year especially. Ultimately, we’re trying to deliver a much more personalised experience on a streaming platform. Everyone is a consumer these days, and more and more people are becoming consumers of streaming experiences,” says Barry Dubovsky, Chief Operating Officer for Connected Video at MultiChoice Group.
Barry, who has been with MultiChoice since 2018, is responsible for establishing Connected Video as a leading platform business and ensuring operational excellence for Showmax and DStv streaming.
“It’s annoying when you get on a streaming platform, and you’re seeing the same stuff, or you’re seeing stuff that’s got nothing to do with what you’ve previously watched. So obviously, we’ve got intelligent algorithms now that we’re continually refining. Every day that someone interacts with us, it tells us something new about that subscriber,” he adds.
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Every digital platform that users access collects some sort of data trail left behind. In an interview with Arts24 in 2020, digital art consultant JiaJia Fei highlighted that the largest corporations in the world of our time are tech companies (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon). “Few realise that data is the oil of the 21st century, and being smart about data is the key to the future,” JiaJia said.
This rings true for local VOD Showmax and its partner platforms. “We continually evolve that algorithm to ultimately drive up a lot more personalisation. If you compare our experience now to what it looked like twelve months ago – it’s very different. There are personalised billboards [banner images or videos on the streaming platform promoting a show], and we’ve got a lot more trailer activity coming through. So, there’s a lot of advancements in that space. I guess the reality of AI and machine-learning is that it is a continuous type of initiative. It doesn’t ever slow down.
“If we look at something like time-based meta-data, for example. This is where we start to learn and build up individual profiles around our users to then serve specific content that appeals to them, not just generally speaking, but over different time periods. The more users interact with the environment, the more we essentially learn about them.
“Viewing trends and patterns change throughout the day – the type of content that gets picked up midday is very different to the type of content that gets picked up late in the evenings. That’s again something that we continue to monitor. It informs our release strategy. When is the optimal time to release? How much are people bingeing? Ultimately what we want to do is perfect it as much as we can so that when new content comes out, it’s exactly there when people want to access it on their own terms.”
The smorgasbord of data received is made contextually relevant by using it to enhance a user’s experience and make choosing a show and keeping viewers engaged easier. For MultiChoice, this is a massive priority and not something they can afford to get wrong as this is now a customer’s expectation.
Barry – who was previously Group Executive of Digital for MultiChoice Group and has vast digital strategy, transformation and growth experience – says the reality is that the depth of MultiChoice’s content catalogue is immense and using data correctly can help users get a better taste of what’s on offer.
“One of the metrics that we kind of looked at quite closely is how much content people are actually consuming. Something we aspire to get to is opening that breadth and giving people more. There’s stuff in there that no one even realises we have, so we need to find effective ways of surfacing some of the depths of that catalogue.
“Say, someone might be really interested in a Ghanaian telenovela – we need to understand the triggers or indicators of what they are watching and what makes that Ghanaian telenovela a viable proposition for them. We want to try and serve up that broader catalogue, but you also don’t want to do it where you’re actually just taking pot-shots, and you’re recommending them something that has no relevance to them.”
But what is data teaching us about what South African audiences are really watching?
“I think from my perspective what we’re seeing more and more and what’s been a consistent theme throughout is just around the localisation. We’re finding that people really want to see more of themselves portrayed on the screen than sometimes the international content and hits.
“The top five shows on Showmax in 2021 were all local capped off by the success of The Wife, which was released towards the end of the year. We want to become the local African storyteller. If you want to experience Africa and African entertainment, you have one option.
“We’re investing in African opportunities and job creation, the industry. We get you. We know what appeals to you. We want to hear from you, and then we’re going to reinvest in you. It’s kind of this continuous circle that we want to continue pushing on. That’s a massive priority for us because I think it really resonates.”
