Sydney - 25 Jul 2017: IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that Oovvuu, an Australian technology start-up, has launched a Watson powered video-on-demand news platform to connect viewers to the most relevant video and news content, whilst generating vital new advertising revenues for global media and news organisations.

 

As media organisations struggle to maintain advertising revenues, news and editorial teams are shrinking and the quality of journalism is being challenged. News organisations around the world are relinquishing advertising revenue to social platforms, with estimates (1) that Facebook and Google represent 85% of digital revenue and growing. Building new revenue streams are critical not only to the survival of media and news organisations but also their ability to maintain and deliver quality journalism.

 

Oovvuu connects the world’s best video content from 40 broadcast partners, such as ABC, BBC, and Bloomberg, with the most read-news articles using the power of IBM’s Watson to match videos with breaking news. The Oovvuu technology with the help of Watson ‘watches’ videos and ‘reads’ articles matching them within media outlets, where they are seen by a billion people daily. In addition, delivering more highly targeted and relevant content creates higher customer engagement which results in visitors staying on the site for longer. As a result, this higher engagement translates to higher revenue returns from advertising.

Watson services combine with the Oovvuu technology platform Compass, to analyse articles as soon as they are published, “digesting” more than 300,000 articles a day to better understand what audiences want when searching or reading about any given topic. Built on the IBM Cloud with Watson Discovery News and Natural Language Understanding services, Compass can match up to 1000 videos to relevant articles in less than a second – significantly more than the 40 videos per day that manual processes can handle.

“Global and local news moves fast and by using machine learning, AI and the cloud, we can match videos with breaking news, embedding relevant videos directly into articles in real time,” said Ricky Sutton, founder Oovvuu. “Moving at speed and adding value to viewers is the life blood needed to secure new advertising value for media organisations.”

“Digital video is the most pervasive form of communications and a strategic source of content for media and news organisations, and yet it has no value if it cannot be effectively managed and harnessed,” said Amanda Johnston-Pell, CMO and Chief of Start Ups, IBM. “Oovvuu’s technology powered by IBM Watson, offers a unique solution to source and manage video content that harnesses new value for customers, media and news organisations around the globe.

Oovvuu received access to entrepreneurial services offered through IBM Global Entrepreneur Program, which provides access to the IBM Cloud platform, including more than 150 APIs and services in cognitive intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, DevOps and security. Oovvuu are presenting at IBM Watson Summit in July 2017.

About Oovvuu:

With News consumption is exploding, video creation is soaring and video viewing is at an all-time high Oovvuu is changing the way video is watched, distributed and monetised.

More than 50 broadcasters and publishers already trust Oovvuu’s solutions to distribute video to millions of people in 113 countries every day.

Oovvuu combines this with the latest technology in a way that is mind-blowingly powerful, yet cheap, as the AI does the heavy-lifting:

• In Australia, our AI follows the headlines and embeds news videos directly into articles
• On YouTube, it knows the audience and places the right shows in popular channels
• On Amazon Prime, it knows the genres that drive the most views and adds shows

For more information on visit oovvuu.com 

About IBM Watson - Pioneering a New Era of Computing:

Watson represents a new era in computing called cognitive computing, where systems understand the world in a way more similar to humans: through senses, learning, and experience. Watson continuously learns from previous interactions, gaining in value and knowledge over time. With the help of Watson, organizations are harnessing the power of cognitive computing to transform industries, help professionals do their jobs better, and solve important challenges.

As part of IBM’s strategy to accelerate the growth of cognitive computing, Watson is open to the world, allowing a growing community of developers, students, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts to easily tap into the most advanced and diverse cognitive computing platform available today. Watson solutions are being built, used and deployed in more than 45 countries and across 20 different industries.

For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/Watson. Join the conversation at #ibmwatson.

(1) Source: Internet Trends Report Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends