Cineverse Unveils Public Beta of AI-Powered Content Discovery Solution - cineSearch

Introducing Ava, an "AI Video Advisor" Designed to Decrease Time Deciding What to Watch, Provide Fast, Personalized Viewing Recommendations and Enable Platforms to Increase Revenue and Reduce Churn

LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cineverse (NASDAQ: CNVS), an innovative streaming technology and entertainment company, has debuted cineSearch, a new content search and discovery (SAND) service. Available today in public Beta, which can be accessed at cineSearch.com, cineSearch promises to redefine how audiences interact with movies and TV shows. Viewers chat with Ava – an AI video adviser with the personality of your favorite film and TV aficionados – who gives personalized recommendations to make deciding what to watch fast, simple and entertaining.

Watch the cineSearch intro video on YouTube.

For viewers who are used to averaging more than 10 minutes deciding what to watch, cineSearch brings quick, personalized search results with links to watch directly on whatever streaming platform the titles are available. Because this tool can access metadata from more than two million films and TV shows, cineSearch provides a way to discover more content than ever before. Ava's recommendations not only take title, cast and genre into account, but also the content's theme, tone, mood, setting, music score, plot, micro-genre, among other traits – plus a viewer's viewing history, location, the current date, and other factors to decide the ideal titles to suggest.

For streaming platforms and device makers/OEMs facing problems such as subscriber churn and unnecessary friction for monetization thanks to ineffective search and discovery, cineSearch offers a personalized solution for keeping users engaged and retained by connecting them to the titles they want, where they are available. In fact, according to a Cineverse study, one-third of viewers have canceled a streaming service because they felt the search functionality was hard to use, and 66% because there was "nothing good to watch." Cineverse projections show cineSearch has the potential to lower churn by 16% leading to 24% cost savings. 

For content creators, especially indie filmmakers, cineSearch helps viewers discover content they may have otherwise never found on their own, bringing their stories to new fans at a time during which lesser-known/watched titles are being cut from major streamers' libraries. 

"In our eyes, cineSearch is a win-win-win – using AI to solve actual problems that our industry has to contend with in order to keep serving fans, creators, and all of the platforms that connect the two," said Cineverse Chairman and CEO Chris McGurk. "I couldn't be more thrilled to be launching cineSearch in Beta today, introducing Ava to the world, while also officially initiating the go-to-market strategy we have developed that will drive revenue to our company in three ways: by licensing cineSearch to OEMs and streaming platforms as a white-label service; by driving fans to our own streaming brands; and offering a subscription service directly to consumers in the future."

In February, Cineverse announced the groundbreaking plans to develop cineSearch (initial announcement: Cineverse Partners with Google Cloud to Launch a Conversational AI-Powered Search & Discovery Tool for Film and Television Content). 

Cineverse followed that by announcing partnerships with Vionlabs, Datatonic and Gracenote, a Nielsen company. By teaming with these best-in-class companies, cineSearch has a comprehensive contextual understanding of filmed content (based on colors, emotions, mood, environments etc.) and access to data on millions of TV shows and movies, along with guardrails and security best practices to ensure that cineSearch is safe, robust, and ethical.

"Now that cineSearch has entered its next phase, our vision is closer to completion and we are excited for our sales team, along with the support of our partners, to engage with OEMs and other potential customers," said Cineverse Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer Tony Huidor. "In early testing, we have seen great engagement from users thus far, who have averaged 41 minutes per session. The public Beta will allow us to collect even more information that will also allow us to take direct consumer feedback and behavior into account as we make additional enhancements, add new features, integrate more enriched metadata and evolve the product even further than it is today."

For more information or to sign up for the cineSearch Beta, visit www.cineSearch.com. 

About Cineverse:
Cineverse's advanced, proprietary technology drives the distribution of over 71,000 premium films, series, and podcasts to more than 82 million unique viewers monthly. From providing a complete streaming solution to some of the world's most recognizable brands, to super-serving their own network of fan channels, Cineverse (NASDAQ: CNVS) is powering the future of Entertainment. For more information, please visit cineverse.com.

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SOURCE Cineverse Corp.