From Linear Broadcast to Topic-Based Viewing
Case study
NLZIET, the leading TV streaming service in the Netherlands, has been working in close partnership with Media Distillery since 2022 to rethink how streaming viewers engage with video content.
What started as an exploration into AI-powered chaptering has evolved into a scaled solution that now enhances hundreds of hours of content in production every month. Today, NLZIET enables viewers to instantly navigate through news, actuality, sports, talk shows and entertainment/tabloid news magazines, by topic, transforming traditional linear programming into a more flexible, on-demand viewing experience.
This collaboration reached a new level during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, where Media Distillery’s technology automatically segmented complex, multi-sport broadcasts in near-real time, allowing viewers to jump directly to the moments and disciplines they care about most.
Key figures
The Challenge: Unlocking Value in Long-Form Content
NLZIET offers a vast catalog of live, catch-up, and on-demand programming from major European broadcasters. Much of this content covers multiple topics within a single program, such as news, sports, and talk shows.
The underlying issue is as much about data quality as it is about UX: traditional metadata lacks the granularity to reflect what’s actually in the content. Even the best interface can’t surface relevant content without relevant metadata.
Viewers know the topics they’re interested in, but often aren’t aware of which programs they feature in, let alone the timestamp at which the topic was covered. As a result, they are forced to scroll through long videos to find relevant segments, creating friction and limiting content consumption. Or they simply never find the content at all. This challenge is particularly acute in live and fast-moving formats.
Fast-moving formats where:
Topics change rapidly
Content structure is unpredictable
The (traditional) metadata is not granular enough to cover multiple topics
Manual metadata creation is not scalable and causes delays
The Solution: Turning Video into Structured, Navigable Content
To address this challenge, NLZIET deployed Media Distillery’s AI-powered chaptering solution, part of the Search & Discovery Suite, to automatically detect the topic-based segments within long-form programs and generate descriptive chapter titles.
Enables
Instant navigation within the playback timeline to specific topics within a program
Clear visibility of what the content contains before watching
Faster discovery across the catalogue
This innovative approach transforms long-form broadcasts into a series of structured, accessible moments, working in near real-time to bridge the gap between linear TV and the expectations shaped by short-form platforms.
Solution at scale
Spotlight on Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympics provided a clear, real-world demonstration of how chapter-based navigation can succeed at scale. NLZIET carried live coverage that combined multiple sports in a single program, with a mix of live events and highlights from earlier in the day or the day before. Competitions often ran in parallel, with unpredictable durations and outcomes. All these factors made it difficult for viewers to catch up on exactly the sports they cared about.
Media Distillery’s chaptering technology automatically detected transitions between sports disciplines within programs, highlighting them to viewers and delivering results within minutes of each broadcast. Over the course of the event, 163 programs were processed, accounting for 165 hours of analyzed content and thousands of generated content chapters.
Even without active promotion, adoption was strong, demonstrating that the value of chapter-based navigation is clear and immediately intuitive to viewers.
The Power of Partnership
From the outset, NLZIET and Media Distillery shared a common approach. “We both believe that innovation is the key factor for taking the quality of video entertainment to the next level,” said Sander Kouwenhoven. “We did consider other providers and technology solutions, but no one we spoke to could do what Media Distillery does.”
Rather than treating this as a one-off deployment, both teams worked iteratively, refining the solution, expanding coverage, and continuously improving the viewing experience.
Early user validation confirmed strong demand for a more granular, topic-based viewing experience:
These insights shaped the ongoing development of the solution and reinforced its value as a core part of the NLZIET experience. Here’s what some individual users had to say about the new navigation:
“Super handy. It saves searching and skipping too far”
“I quickly find the subject I'm looking for”
“Easy scanning for correct fragments”
The Result: From Discovery Problem to Engagement Opportunity
The success
Through its partnership with Media Distillery, NLZIET has transformed how viewers interact with content:
Long-form programs transformed into short-form viewing experiences
Enriched metadata makes it easier to navigate longer video content
Viewers move from passive watching to intent-driven consumption
Content becomes easier to discover, access, and enjoy