The Superpowers of Metadata in the Streaming Universe
The Streaming Lab #55
Hey streamers 👋
Welcome to the 55th edition of The Streaming Lab. Thanks for reading me.
A big thank you to my sponsor of the week: Babeleye, the global specialist in video Metadata.
As a streaming platform, you can’t just upload a TV series and expect users to watch it. You still have to make sure users can find it. That’s why you need a solid Metadata strategy.
Babeleye is a video Metadata solutions provider that can feed your EPG service, video catalog and content discovery platform with rich localized multi-lingual Metadata to increase content visibility. They power top OTT platforms and media companies like BeIN Media Group, Eutelsat, SalamTV, SES, AfricaXP, Intelsat, and they work with Nagra, Televes, EasyBroadcast, Minerva, and others. Babeleye has a global coverage and a focus on MEA.
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This week’s program
Why Metadata are key in streaming media?
Metadata from Streaming in MENA
Why rich localized multi-lingual Metadata are key for streaming services
The future of Metadata & streaming
Metadata from Streaming in MENA
Metadata provide detailed information about TV series, movies, documentaries, short forms, or any kind of content, including but not limited to the following parameters:
Title
Artwork
Synopsis
Year of Release
Genre
Parental Ratings
Languages
Subtitles & Dubbing
Country of Origin
Directors
Writers
Cast & Cast Roles
Metadata are everywhere on streaming services: homepage, movie page, player, search, filters, EPG, etc. Let me show you below where are the Metadata on 4 MENA platforms:
TOD - Title page in English & Arabic
STARZPLAY - Homepage in French & Arabic
SHAHID - Live TV EPG page in English & Arabic
OSN+ - Title page in English & Arabic
Why rich localized multi-lingual Metadata are key for streaming services
Streaming platforms have to include a combination of text, images and video if they want to offer rich metadata. And most importantly, they have to make sure to keep a high level of Metadata quality.
Rich metadata are not limited to a title, an artwork or a synopsis, but can include more relevant information like local Parental Ratings or Cast Roles. Localized multi-lingual metadata are optimized for different languages, and can suit cultural preferences.
Rich metadata also allow content managers to gather data and have a broad view of their content strategy evolution. The graph below from Babeleye shows the number of movies on two channels in MENA, between 2015 and 2021.
My main insights:
The number of movies available on the second channel (in red) decreased from 2015 to 2021.
We can see a clear drop of new movies in fall 2019 for both channels.
The power of Metadata can give us additional insights: The first channel (in blue) broadcasted 1,985 movies from 2015 to 2021, 80% coming from the US and 6% from the UK. (Source: Babeleye)
Now that we agree on what Metadata really are, let’s review the impact of Metadata on key strategic topics:
Content discovery & recommendation
The main objective of creating quality Metadata is to increase searchability. The more relevant information platforms can provide about a title, the better are its chances of ranking high in the internal search. That’s also why Metadata management companies generate different Metadata for the same movie, taking into account clients specificities and the way they categorize their content.
Content localization
How do you help users find the content they need? Make sure to know who they are. For example: in the US, parental ratings are based on the MPAA ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. But the ratings are totally different in UAE or Saudi Arabia.
Regional specialists in video Metadata like Babeleye can help streaming services display the right parental ratings, depending on the country where users access the service.
EPG management
Streaming services with on demand content are usually “good Metadata students” as they now understand the value and the importance of Metadata. Platforms with Linear content can still improve the way they manage Metadata to make their EPG clearer.
Targeted advertising
Metadata help not only content discovery, localization and recommendation, but also targeting. Rich Metadata will add more context to a specific movie or TV series, and help advertisers serve the right ads to the right audience.
The future of Metadata & streaming
Metadata play today a major role in the streaming media industry. But what’s next? Here is what I anticipate:
Rich Metadata will keep improving content discovery and limit search fatigue.
Localized multi-lingual Metadata will be crucial for global players to successfully target new territories.
FAST platforms will need a solid Metadata management strategy in order to properly recommend hundreds of digital channels to their growing user base.
AI will help provide richer metadata for effective machine learning, and accelerate tagging processes.
Glocal Metadata specialists will become more important than ever for streaming services, bring them expertise and help them save time & resources.
That’s all for today, why Metadata have superpowers in the streaming universe.
See you online next week. Until then, enjoy France vs. Greece on TOD tonight. France will continue their quest to feature in the 2024 European Championship when they host Greece at the Stade de France. This will be the third time France will face Greece this millennium, with both sides sharing a win.
I think this article is amazing. So well researched, so well composed and deeply informative
d’une semaine sur l’autre j’attends avec impatience ta photo 👍