Microsoft has acquired video discovery technology company VideoSurf. The video firm’s offerings will be integrated into Xbox LIVE which plans to roll out new entertainment from almost 40 providers.
VideoSurf is responsible for back-end technology which can analyse frames within videos to let content be discovered quickly and accurately.
“Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division is at the leading edge of connected entertainment,” said Lior Delgo, CEO and co-founder of VideoSurf.
“We are incredibly excited to be working together on our mutual passion for creating amazing consumer experiences and reinventing how consumers search, discover and enjoy content on their televisions,” said Delgo.
This technology will be integrated the Xbox 360 platform, where it will improve the search and discovery capabilities for entertainment content.
It will be particularly useful once Microsoft rolls out entertainment from almost 40 providers on Xbox LIVE, which will include MUZU.TV, Channel 4, BBC and HBO Go. Along with this Microsoft plans to enhance its dashboard with more advanced voice search capabilities. Microsoft hopes that this VideoSurf acquisition will help entertainment providers integrate voice search capabilities with their content.
“VideoSurf’s content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform,” said Alex Garden, director of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.
“This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox LIVE. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf’s technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search result,” said Garden.
