How Minute Media's Matching Algorithm Helps Publishers Take Their Video Offering to The Next Level

My father always orders the same ice cream. ‘One cone with vanilla and chocolate, please’ - I must have heard him say this sentence a thousand times. All of my attempts to convince him to try a different flavor have failed. However, as much as I admire his stubbornness, my father is old school and his behavior doesn’t represent the average consumer today.

In fact, our world nowadays is very different. It longs for an endless amount of choices and tailor-made experiences. Vanilla and chocolate don’t cut it anymore. The customer wants to add almond and coconut toppings, served in a hazelnut cone. Failure to deliver personalized experiences and a diverse offering in the form of interesting add-ons will almost certainly result in the individual seeking out the competitor down the road next time around. A basic offering is just not good enough anymore.

Struggling to stand out from the crowd

Why do I bother telling you this? Because in essence, the same principles apply to the media industry. Consumer expectations have grown and with so much content available at a click of a button, the user can afford to be picky when selecting what to consume. Standing out from the crowd has become increasingly difficult. Video, in particular, lies at the heart of this struggle. Delivering relevant quality video content at scale can be an impossible task for publishers.

“Our world nowadays is very different. It longs for an endless amount of choices and tailor-made experiences.”

At Minute Media, we understand those challenges and strive to deliver automated and scalable solutions for our brands and partners. Our platform empowers publishers with a single video solution which includes a fast player, monetization capabilities, content offering, and our contextual matching technology. In this blog, I will solely focus on our state-of-the-art contextual matching algorithm. It’s the secret sauce that provides a unique edge to publisher offerings.

How does it work?

To put simply: We scan and analyze several data layers such as the image, title, text, and tags of any article. Our algorithm then automatically cross-references it against videos available in our library and creates a custom playlist for each piece of content. The player will then display the first video of this playlist. However, we take it one step further.

‘Our algorithm delivers tailor-made video content by matching the most relevant video from our rich library with the article.’

Learning from our experience working with multiple brands, we understand publishers have differing needs and we try to cater to them. For example, publishers focused on delivering news articles will most likely put more emphasis on the time frame of the video selected, whereas other publishers might prefer videos that fit the style and tone of their content. Another publisher might have long-form videos working better with their audience. We provide our brands and partners the ability to customize and tweak the algorithm to fit their individual needs.

Win-Win-Win: Benefits for user, publisher, and advertiser

Multiple studies have been conducted showing how related videos increase time spent on page. In contrast, unrelated videos distract users and ultimately entice them to abandon ship earlier. A random video provides an inconsistent user experience by exposing the user to irrelevant information, creating distrust and frustration.

In addition to user retention, a relevant video will also increase user engagement. It’s self-explanatory: If a user showed interest in the topic and visited an article about LeBron James’ most recent performance, he/she might very well engage with a video about LeBron’s latest tweets. Less so if the video was about the British Royal family. When crunching the numbers, we can see that users across our platform are twice as likely to engage with the video if it has been matched contextually.

Contextual matching also positively impacts brands and advertisers. With the arrival of new privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, targeted advertising is impacted as it leverages individual user data. In contrast, contextual advertising doesn’t pose any privacy concerns since it relates to the video that has been matched semantically. For brands and advertisers, contextual video matching represents an opportunity for a shift in advertising strategy.

Content is king, but context is queen

Consolidation is the name of the game in the world of media today. With the industry in serious disarray and the pressure from big platforms mounting, creating outstanding user experiences and building trust with customers is paramount for publishers if they wish to attract and retain their audiences.

The demands and expectations of individual users are higher than ever before and media companies need to differentiate themselves from the competition. Minute Media’s algorithm, paired with our library and player technology, helps publishers stand out from the crowd. If content is considered king, it’s time we start considering context as queen.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at david@minutemedia.com