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HULU ACQUIRES THE VIDEO GENOME PROJECT TECHNOLOGY
November 15, 2016
The Video Genome Project’s contextual attribution technology to dramatically enhance
Hulu’s content recommendations for linear and on-demand video viewing
Santa Monica, CA (Nov. 15, 2016) — Hulu announced today that it has completed the asset acquisition of The Video Genome Project (The VGP), one of the largest, broadest and most granular structured databases of video content, for an undisclosed sum. Through this acquisition, Hulu will combine The VGP’s proprietary technology with its own world-class recommendation engine to create a more powerful way to surface the right content to the right user at the right time, in both live and on-demand environments.
Founded in 2013, The VGP developed an innovative way to automatically aggregate the existing metadata around video content. The technology assigns “genes” to TV shows and movies based on the hundreds of contextual attributes it recognizes within the metadata. These video genes are connected together to identify the unique relationships among titles – going far beyond genre, cast, writer or director – and deliver more insightful and relevant recommendations to the viewer.
“The future of television is not just going to be about where and how you watch, it’s going to be about how personal your viewing experience can be,” said Ben Smith, Head of Experience at Hulu. “With this strategic acquisition of The VGP’s technology, we’re gaining important data and personalization capabilities that will allow us to serve our users even better as we expand into live programming.”
The VGP marks the latest in Hulu’s efforts to continuously enhance its seamless, personalized viewing experience. Seventy-five percent of all viewing on Hulu is driven by recommended programming, so Hulu has introduced a number of features over the past year to ensure that all touch points on the user interface are personal to each viewer, including their Watchlist, recommendations on the home page and personalized masthead.
“We built The VGP because we always believed that every household deserves the most robust discovery tools, ones that deliver a hyper-personalized video experience that mirrors how the human brain naturally curates content,” said Xavier Kochhar, Founder and CEO of The Video Genome Project. “Given its forward-thinking leadership and true emphasis on content discovery, which we saw in the personal user experience they are building, Hulu really was the obvious choice for us to realize The VGP’s vision.”
The Video Genome Project was backed by venture capital firm Segel Group Limited. Hulu expects to fully incorporate the company’s data into its recommendation system by Q1 2017.
About Hulu
Hulu is a premium streaming TV destination that offers hundreds of thousands of hours of the best of current season programming, premium original content, films and full seasons of hit series to subscribers with limited commercials for $7.99 per month or commercial free for $11.99 per month. Hulu is the only streaming subscription service that offers current season programming from top U.S. broadcast networks the day after new episodes air, as well as acclaimed Hulu Originals including The Mindy Project, The Path, 11.22.63, Difficult People and the Golden Globe® nominated comedy series, Casual. Since its launch in 2008, Hulu has been at the forefront of entertainment and technology and continues to redefine TV by connecting viewers with the stories they love.
About The Video Genome Project
The Video Genome Project is a data structuring and analytical tools company whose mission is deeply rooted in the belief that the world’s data should be accessible for all to use. The VGP has successfully mapped, cataloged, categorized, and analyzed deep metadata elements within video content. The VGP technology and tools have revolutionized the understanding of video, allowing for a genetic-level analysis and comparison of video content that are then used to create the richest, most intuitive video curation experiences in the world.
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Hulu Media Contact:
Sasha Litvakov
