As you might recall, we recently released, then revoked, some new recommendation technology. We’re now re-releasing part of that technology back into the wild. Today the player begins recommending additional episodes of your show when a given episode ends. We’ve got plenty more to add to this feature, but we’d love to hear your opinion of what we’ve done so far.
Click on the image to see it in action. Click here to read the full recommendations saga.
Since our last attempt to roll out recommendations didn’t work out, I wanted to give you a preview of what the new version will look like. Let me take you on a short tour.
Along the top we’ll have the equivalent of the “More” and “Again” buttons that we have now, along with an option for sharing. The giant text there in the middle will tell you what you just watched. Along the bottom we have an accordion control that will default to showing more episodes from the show you just watched, and allow the viewer to look at episodes we’re featuring or episodes suggested by the Strands recommendations engine. You will be able to opt-out of displaying featured and recommended episodes in your customized player, and you can go back to the old simple endcap if you want to.
The recommendation engine will return shows that we think are high quality and age appropriate. In addition, it will only recommend shows that are opted into ads and are recommending shows, themselves. That won’t apply to featured episodes though. To be promoted there you just have to make a great show.
Finally, this will be an iterative process. The first version won’t have all the bells and whistles you see here, but this is where we want to end up.
Tell us what you think. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Recommendations are being overhauled
We released a new recommendations feature on Tuesday afternoon. The reason for the feature is simple: we want to get more shows more viewers.
After having the feature out in the wild for a day, though, we’ve decided that we can do a better job with it. We need to make it clearer how you can find more episodes of the same show you’re watching. We need to make sharing in the “endcap” (the screen that appears after a video plays) easier. We need to make it clearer that we’re recommending shows other than the one you’re watching. We also need to make it easier for show creators to opt out of recommendations.
We’re going to be pulling back the recommendations implementation in a few minutes. It will be coming back in a week or two better than ever: Recommendations 2.0.
Sometimes you move too quickly at start-ups. We moved too quickly in releasing recommendations.
The end result of recommendations should significantly benefit show creators. But we didn’t do a good job with the actual execution of the feature. Lots of show creators e-mailed us thinking that the recommendations were an ad. Others were concerned that clicks on recommendations played back other people’s videos on their Web sites. Some were concerned that their viewers would think the recommended videos came from the show they were originally watching.
We learned a lesson. We’re pulling back the feature and completely overhauling it. Sometimes it’s best to admit you made a mistake and then fix it.
Source: bliptv
Recommendations are being overhauled
We released a new recommendations feature on Tuesday afternoon. The reason for the feature is simple: we want to get more shows more viewers.
After having the feature out in the wild for a day, though, we’ve decided that we can do a better job with it. We need to make it clearer how you can find more episodes of the same show you’re watching. We need to make sharing in the “endcap” (the screen that appears after a video plays) easier. We need to make it clearer that we’re recommending shows other than the one you’re watching. We also need to make it easier for show creators to opt out of recommendations.
We’re going to be pulling back the recommendations implementation in a few minutes. It will be coming back in a week or two better than ever: Recommendations 2.0.
Recommendations
Yesterday we also launched a new feature: in-player recommendations. The recommendations are powered by Strands.
Love the new feature, but I wish there was an option included in there to actually re-watch the previously watched video. All I see are the suggested videos and no opportunity to re-watch nor to go see more videos from that same video maker.
Understood, and agreed. We’re working on Recommendations 1.1 which will fix both of these problems.
Source: bliptv
Recommendations
Yesterday we also launched a new feature: in-player recommendations. The recommendations are powered by Strands.
Shows that use blip.tv reach more than twenty million people per month. Blip.tv is now the 80th largest site on the Internet according to Quantcast. This is all because of you, the show creator.
But, while we reach a huge number of people, we have a problem. The average viewer of blip.tv shows watches about two videos per viewing session (the actual number is 1.84). Most viewers only have one or two favorite shows that they watch. They don’t know about the 38,000 other shows on blip. They don’t know about your show.
This is a tragedy. It’s a lost opportunity. There are people right now watching a great show on blip that would love your show if it were put in front of them.
The solution is recommendations. Beginning yesterday afternoon, all blip viewers who watch an entire episode are presented with the option of discovering other shows on blip. And the shows put in front of them change because the Strands system powering recommendations learns. If people who watch a video gaming show like other video gaming shows, they will be recommended to them. If they like comedies, comedies will be recommended.
With recommendations we will lift the tide. Those twenty million people will watch more shows. And your show will grow as a result.
And, before you ask, we’re going to be spending the next couple weeks tweaking our recommendations implementation. We’ll be making it prettier and more effective. And we will be careful to make sure that the shows and episodes that are recommended reflect well on your brand. Look for a redesigned recommendations implementation coming soon.
And, in keeping with blip.tv tradition, you can turn off recommendations on your show if you like. Just visit your Show Players Control Panel in your Dashboard. Customize a Show Player and click the Advanced tab. Then enter “showstrands” in one of the empty boxes on the left, and “false” in the corresponding box to the right. Save your player. You can e-mail support@blip.tv if you need help with this.
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