6 Benefits of Machine Learning for the Entertainment Industry

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence featuring algorithms that get more effective and accurate through exposure to information. People use it in industries ranging from medicine to marketing. It also can affect the content you use to stay occupied, such as music, films and TV, too. Here are six benefits of machine learning for the entertainment sector.

1. Predicting the Most Profitable Movies

What determines whether a movie strikes gold or bombs at the box office? A company called Cinelytic claims to offer a forecast with 85% accuracy before a film goes into production.  Its tools let movie bosses compare the effects of casting certain people — such as by putting Emma Watson or Emma Stone in the lead role of a new comedy — on box office totals.

Similar products from other companies also exist and promise useful projections. One analyzes a script, while another calculates a movie’s fate by gauging how people react to its trailer. Even with the technology used in these ways, box office flops and hidden gems will still cause surprises. Machine learning could pay off by removing some of the guesswork from the moviemaking process, though.

2. Offering Another Income Stream Through Video Game Coaching

The rise of online gaming means that people can turn their video game prowess into income. Statistics show that the top ten gamers collectively earned $121 million in a year. Skill alone does not translate into profit, especially since most of the highly successful players spend time cultivating engaging online personalities and may score sponsorships.

Skill is undoubtedly a necessary ingredient for succeeding as a high-earning gamer, though. That’s why some video game developers use machine learning to spot trends in how people play games and the decisions they make within different scenarios. They then offer personalized gameplay tips to people who pay for subscription-based coaching assistance.

3. Creating Personalized Soundscapes, Tracks and Playlists

Spotify and Pandora are two well-known music streaming options that use machine learning to improve song recommendations. One of the benefits of machine learning in these cases is that people are more likely to use those services for longer periods and feel satisfied with the turns they hear..

A company called Endel takes such efforts to even greater heights. It relies on machine learning to create customized tracks and soundscapes based on aspects like a person’s heart rate, the time of day and the current weather. A division of Warner Music Group also recently signed Endel to create 20 albums via a distribution and publishing deal. This agreement is the first such contract with an algorithm.

4. Giving People the TV Content They Want

Most people have been in crowded bars, noticed interesting content on a certain TV and asked the staff to turn up the volume. Another common scenario happens when people go to work out at a gym and use a special headset or app to listen to the content on a particular TV from a wall of options.

Tunity is a company that uses machine learning to simplify those processes. It allows people to aim their phones at muted TVs, then get the content beamed to the devices. Neural networks determine the TV’s location and synchronize the broadcast for the user’s device. Machine learning also comes into the equation by predicting the content someone is likely to watch based on their past activity, location or the preferences of fellow viewers in their vicinity.

5. Increasing and Forecasting Event Demand

Maximizing the number of tickets sold for a concert is a continual goal for many artists — especially independent musicians who don’t have experienced marketing teams behind them. A website called PROMOGOGO uses a variety of high-tech helpers, including machine learning algorithms and big data — to help users oversee their ticket sales and tap into opportunities to boost sales.

Some dates on long, country-spanning tours might not immediately sell as robustly as others. PROMOGOGO identifies those to help promoters or performers take action sooner. Another company called PredictHQ wants to do something similar by assessing the demand for specific services in advance.  PredictHQ’s first industry-specific product used machine learning to connect the need for air travel to global events.

6. Growing the Return on Investment for Podcast Advertising

A study about people’s reasons for listening to podcasts found that a significant percentage of them tue in to get entertained. Podcast advertising is becoming a popular way for advertisers to connect with new audiences. Such income can also be instrumental in helping podcasters stay profitable.

A company called Podcorn capitalizes on machine learning to help advertisers find the most appropriate podcast outlets. The goal is to find the most lucrative podcaster-advertiser relationships. If machine learning successfully identifies the best partnerships, the tech could help forge longer-lasting connections between the respective parties and prove that advertising on podcasts is a worthwhile investment.

More Benefits of Machine Learning Will Emerge

These six exciting examples show that entertainment brands have many thought-provoking reasons to consider working with machine learning to improve their overall results. Machine learning is still a relatively new technology, though. As people continue experimenting with it and learning more about its capabilities, you should see more companies using it within and outside the entertainment world.