The streaming industry finds itself at a crossroads. Viewers are facing subscription fatigue, platforms are under pressure to prove their value, and attention spans are shorter than ever. Everywhere we’ve gone in 2025 - from Connected TV World Summit to NAB - the message has been consistent: content discovery and personalization are no longer just nice-to-haves. They are the battleground on which viewer loyalty will be won or lost.
Research shows that the average viewer spends more than ten minutes deciding what to watch. That’s time many streaming platforms can’t afford, especially when viewers are just one app-switch away from YouTube or TikTok. These platforms have set the bar for instant gratification, offering snackable content tailored to users’ current context and mood.
To compete, streaming services must rethink how they surface content. It’s not enough to recommend more content—the goal is to recommend the right content in the right format at the right moment. Whether that’s a feature film, a live broadcast, or a short, attention-grabbing clip, matching the content to the context is critical.
Traditional recommendation engines, often based on collaborative filtering ("people who watched this also watched that"), only scratch the surface of personalization. Viewers today expect more than similar content—they want experiences that feel truly relevant to their needs and moods.
Smarter, AI-driven personalization goes further: not only factoring in what a user has watched but also understanding the intent behind their choices. Sometimes users want to commit to a full movie; other times they just want a quick update or a highlight reel. Recognizing and adapting to these needs is where next-generation content discovery must evolve.
At Media Distillery, we believe that truly impactful personalization starts with a deep understanding of the content itself—not just who watched it, but what’s inside it.
For over a decade, Media Distillery has been helping video platforms make sense of their content at scale. Our AI solutions, including Topic Distillery and Preview Distillery, use advanced machine learning and generative AI to extract segment-level insights from live and on-demand video.
This enables streaming services to:
These capabilities aren’t just nice-to-haves; they create moments that capture attention and keep viewers engaged on your platform instead of losing them to competitors. Whether it’s a breaking news clip, a trending topic, or a sports highlight, contextual discovery ensures that the right content finds the right viewer at the right time.
Both Topic Distillery and Preview Distillery are part of our Search and Discovery Suite which is available either as a complement to - or a replacement for - traditional recommendation engines, moving beyond generic suggestions to deliver true contextual relevance.
As AI becomes more central to personalization, trust will be central to success. Viewers will increasingly want to understand how recommendations are made, what data is being used, when AI is involved, and where the system's limitations lie.
Our work with Dutch streaming service NLZIET has shown that transparency builds user confidence and ultimately, long-term engagement. In their audience research about the chaptering functionality powered by Topic Distillery, 90% of NLZIET viewers who responded said they were interested in the ability to instantly jump to the topic of choice. Almost three quarters (74%) said chapter-based navigation made them feel more in control and gave them a better overview of the content.
The reality for the rest of 2025 and beyond: The best streaming experiences will be the ones that get this balance right, empowering users with enhanced discovery but keeping them feeling firmly in control of their content journey.
AI is a powerful enabler, but it’s not a silver bullet. While it’s increasingly easy to start working with off-the-shelf AI models, the total cost of ownership can escalate rapidly without a clear strategy for training, tuning, and scaling. Without high-quality, granular content data - and a scalable implementation plan - even the most sophisticated AI tools will struggle to deliver real value. That’s why choosing the right partner matters: one that delivers proven solutions aligned to specific content discovery challenges, rather than just offering generic technology enablement.
At Media Distillery, we combine cutting-edge AI with a decade of domain expertise to help our customers move beyond basic recommendations to deliver smarter, more contextualized experiences.
In the coming months and years, the streaming services that thrive will be those that go beyond the algorithm - embracing smarter personalization and contextual discovery to create truly intuitive content experiences. At Media Distillery, we’re proud to be helping platforms make that leap.
May 8, 2025
