Akimbo, MovieLink to Get Personalized

Internet video services Akimbo and MovieLink have inked deals with ChoiceStream to provide personalized recommendations.

Internet video providers Akimbo and MovieLink have licensed technology from ChoiceStream to provide personalized media recommendations to users of their services

Steve Johnson, CEO of ChoiceStream, said in the company’s press release (PDF): “ChoiceStream is very excited to be working with Movielink and Akimbo, two great brands on the cutting edge of how consumers download and view video content. Today, consumers are faced with an unprecedented amount of information. The explosion of content made available online and on TV each day can be overwhelming.”

“ChoiceStream personalization provides powerful ways of connecting consumers with the video, movies and music that they’ll most enjoy. So that, no matter how many choices consumers have, more will always be better and finding the right content will always be a click away. “

ChoiceStream technology is also licensed by Yahoo, AOL, and eMusic.com to provide personalization options. ChoiceStream’s platform utilizes ABCM (Attributed Bayesian Choice Modeling) to classify content and products, and figure out which available options users might be most interested in based on user choices, profile attributes, and behaviors. The idea is to create a system which knows not only what users say they like, but also construct a useful model about why they like it to better match up users with content they may not have known was available to them. Akimbo plans to use the technology to offer recommendations which will be available not only through the company’s set-top boxes, but through the Web via the company’s MyAkimbo service, as well as via RSS feeds.

Personalization profiles are expected to be available to both MovieLink and Akimbo subscribers by April or May of 2006.