Comcast Technology Solutions launches VideoAI service for global customers

DENVER—Comcast Technology Solutions, a division of Comcast Cable that provides media and entertainment technology to content providers, operators, and advertisers, announced the launch of a new service, Video Artificial Intelligence (VideoAI), for customers across the globe.

VideoAI is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) that can help companies understand and analyze video (live and on-demand), audio, and closed captions to create actionable metadata around content assets, generate and manage new content, improve advertising efficiency, and streamline operations.

VideoAI is based on commercial-scale implementations created and deployed by Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Technology Solutions now provides this capability to the broader media and entertainment industry as a fully managed, 24x7 service. Customers can use VideoAI to automatically analyze their video assets to identify and tag key onscreen moments (hard cuts, black frames, transitions, etc.); audio events (silence, specific sounds, etc.), and much more to support enhanced understanding of video content.

The underlying technology for VideoAI has been applied across millions of video assets to create such features as metadata segmentation for dynamic ad insertion (DAI); segmentation detection, such as detecting intros, credit rolls, auto-chaptering; and creating automated on-screen highlight reels during live sporting events. With VideoAI, content owners, operators, and advertisers can now work with Comcast Technology Solutions to develop their own business use cases and deploy them using a secure, flexible, and ready-to-use service.

“VideoAI from Comcast Technology Solutions is a potential game changer,” said Fraser Stirling, Global Chief Product Officer, Comcast and Sky. “With VideoAI as a managed service, companies can quickly launch a range of AI-powered video services at scale, and benefit from the investments we’ve made internally, to drive their own business objectives forward.”

“VideoAI was designed to help our customers remove the complexity of leveraging these technologies effectively across their video content and advertising businesses,” noted Bart Spriester, Vice President and General Manager of the Content and Streaming Providers Suite for Comcast Technology Solutions. “At Comcast Technology Solutions, we are relentlessly focused on helping our customers understand and deliver their content in new ways, improve workflow efficiency, and drive automation.

“VideoAI is a technological advancement on all those fronts. Best of all, our solutions have been proven and deployed at scale from some of the largest operators and content creators in the world. We look forward to working with operators, content creators, and advertisers across the globe on new VideoAI initiatives.” 

Capabilities and Initial Services

Using software detectors that analyze video, VideoAI generates timely and actionable metadata and applications that can be used to create entirely new capabilities for content owners and advertisers. As part of the CTSuite, Comcast Technology Solutions’ VideoAI will offer a set of proven and off-the-shelf capabilities to customers, including: 

·        Segmentation: VideoAI can be used to generate specific metadata to help companies enable optimal viewing experiences, chaptering with automated titles and summaries, and smart thumbnails. It can also help detect ad breaks to support dynamic ad insertion capabilities.  

·        Contextual Advertising: VideoAI allows users to serve ads based on contextual information included in the video being watched. It detects content for brand opportunities or sensitivities, improving the value of every ad break. 

·        From Live to VOD: Providers can prepare live events for VOD – creating on-the-fly thumbnails, titles, and summaries quickly after a live event has aired. 

VideoAI can be used with or without the Comcast Technology Solutions Cloud Video Platform and Direct-to-Consumer Suite. Additional information about Comcast Technology Solutions’ VideoAI is available here.