Personalization Pioneer ChoiceStream Announces Solution Proven to Accelerate Video Discovery, Purchases and Downloads Online

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ChoiceStream, Inc., the world’s leading personalization solution provider, today announces the release of the ChoiceStream RealRelevance^SM Video Suite 2.0, the only video recommendation solution proven to accelerate video purchase and increase usage by enabling online portals, DVD retailers, video download services and online publishers to deliver personally relevant video to consumers based on their individual tastes and preferences.

“‘Long-tail’ content can boost publisher and providers’ profit margins, but it is hard to find for consumers. Personalization is the key to solving such problems for content providers. Personalization technology is instrumental in improving the user experience and enabling targeted marketing campaigns.”

Video delivery services of all sizes and business models are launching at a breakneck pace in an effort to meet the exploding demand for video and each is faced with the challenge of helping consumers sort through the thousands of available options to find content worth watching. The ChoiceStream RealRelevance Video Suite helps companies make sense of all this content. By delivering relevant, one-to-one recommendations drawn from a company’s entire video inventory, the RealRelevance Video Suite delivers real value, dramatically reducing search times while increasing the size of consumers’ rental queues. In addition, the Suite boosts demand for profitable back-catalog content, sustaining session length and significantly improving the consumer experience.

The RealRelevance Video Suite benefits businesses of any size or business model—from small, subscription-based video services to online DVD stores to growing, ad-supported video portals—by driving revenue through increased conversion, customer engagement and loyalty. The Suite is comprised of DVD Explorer^SM 2.0 Video Discovery^SM 2.0 and TV Planner^SM 2.0 software solutions, which can be licensed individually or in any combination.

“Today’s online video and other content providers must go beyond simply providing a vast archive of content,” said XJ Wang, vice president, Yankee Group. “‘Long-tail’ content can boost publisher and providers’ profit margins, but it is hard to find for consumers. Personalization is the key to solving such problems for content providers. Personalization technology is instrumental in improving the user experience and enabling targeted marketing campaigns.”

Video Suite 2.0 Product Description: DVD Explorer 2.0 and Video Discovery 2.0

ChoiceStream DVD Explorer and Video Discovery deliver personalized, one-to-one merchandising for the full breadth and depth of a company’s video inventory. For DVD retailers and video download services, these recommendations are proven to drive higher sales conversions and increase retention by making it easier for consumers to find video they’ll want to watch. Key features include:

Automated, Personalized Merchandising		Boosts download conversion and increases DVD sales by highlighting Best Bets based on each consumer’s preferences
Accurate Recommendations of New Releases.		Increases take-up by accurately promoting new releases without a history of ratings data
Personalized Best Bets from Editorial Lists		Effectively targets editorial selections based on consumer preferences
Average User Ratings		Helps consumers make choices using informative, community-based ratings
Content Connections		Highlights consumers’ personal connections to recommended items to build trust and motivate them to rate more content
Targeted Promotions		Targets promotions to the consumers most likely to take action
‘Sold Out’ Purchase Response		Ensures subscribers don’t leave a site empty-handed by providing recommendations for movies similar to those sold out
If You Liked This You May Also Like		Automatically surfaces videos similar to those consumers already know they like
Filter Catalog by User Profile		Filters a customer’s catalog based on information stored in consumers’ profiles (e.g., country code, referring portal/affiliate).

Video Suite 2.0 Product Description: TV Planner 2.0

ChoiceStream TV Planner enables companies to deliver fully personalized TV recommendations to help consumers find their must-see TV by automatically highlighting the entertainment that best matches their personal preferences. Consumers can view What’s on Now or plan their viewing for the week—the choice is theirs. The guide also offers helpful tools like Average User Ratings and More Like This… to help consumers decide what to watch and make sure everyone finds something to enjoy. Key features include:

Personalized TV Planner		Engages consumers with Best Bets based on their unique preferences
Automatic What’s on Now, What’s on Tonight and What’s on This Week Modules		Enriches your site with personalized, automated content
Pay Per View Recommendations		Increases take-up of fee-based content for TV service provider customers by surfacing recommendations for video consumers will pay for
More Like This		Makes it easy for consumers to find more shows and movies they’ll enjoy
Average User Ratings		Helps consumers make choices using informative, community-based ratings
Filter Catalog		Filters a customers’ catalog by show category and/or attributes (e.g., HD, TV rating, etc.).

“Over the past 12 months, the market for online video has absolutely exploded and companies of all sizes and business models are scrambling to figure out how to differentiate their offering to capture the greatest market share. ChoiceStream is pleased to announce the only video discovery solution that is accessible to companies of all sizes and has been proven by the top brands in entertainment, including Comcast, BlockBuster, AOL, DirecTV and Yahoo!,” said Steve Johnson, CEO, ChoiceStream, Inc. “Since 2003, our personalization solutions have helped millions of consumers find the right content online and we’re thrilled to be able to make our products available to an even broader market through the release of RealRelevance Video Suite 2.0.”

Personalization Under Clients’ Control

The ChoiceStream RealRelevance Video Suite integrates quickly and easily into existing content delivery platforms, enabling clients to control the look and feel of the recommendations, as well as the actual recommended content. And, it is the only licensable software solution that has been tested scalable in today’s biggest entertainment companies and is upgradeable to support a wide variety of content, across multiple devices including, consumers’ mobile phones and their set-tops.

The ChoiceStream Advantage

ChoiceStream’s RealRelevance personalization is the only system of its kind to profile both people and content. ChoiceStream automatically classifies video content and learns from people’s interactions with it to better understand each consumer’s unique tastes and preferences. The system also incorporates trends, popularity, related affinities, and other insight gleaned from the 100+ million users in the ChoiceStream Consumer Preference Network^SM. This rich, knowledge-based approach enables ChoiceStream to learn about a consumer quickly and accurately, avoiding ‘out-in-left-field’ results that can undermine consumers’ faith in a service. In addition, ChoiceStream easily copes with new, frequently-changing content that drives the entertainment industry, resolving the ‘cold start’ problem that afflicts older personalization approaches, like collaborative filtering. Through its high-performance technology, ChoiceStream provides personalized guidance and discovery for millions of consumers and produces high impact, measurable business results for today’s biggest brands.

About ChoiceStream, Inc.

ChoiceStream is the premier personalization solution for the world’s largest entertainment, e-retail, TV and mobile brands, including Comcast, ATT, DirecTV, AOL, Blockbuster, Yahoo!, and Overstock.com. In today’s marketplace of superabundance, ChoiceStream’s RealRelevance^SM platform restores control to consumers by delivering personally relevant choices when and where they want it. ChoiceStream’s RealRelevance platform accurately presents consumers with their favorite video, music, movies, news, sports, and products, effectively simplifying the discovery process wherever they are: online, using a mobile device, or watching television. For consumers, ChoiceStream’s technology delivers on the promise of instant gratification. For content providers, ChoiceStream’s solution produces measurable business results and a powerful approach to building lifetime customer loyalty.