Video Content Recommendation: An Overview and Discussion on Technologies and Business Models

This paper presents several aspects, from technologies to business models, of content recommendation for video related solutions that range from IP television (IPTV), including linear programming television (LPTV) and video-on-demand (VoD), to online video. Video content recommendation is becoming increasingly important because of the continuously increasing amount of video content available to end users. After considering some end user requirements, an analysis is provided of the most important content recommendation technologies as described in literature and implemented by many start-ups. The paper also deals with evaluation criteria for a content recommender system related to user expectations, support of different scenarios (e. g., new content, new users), and marketing and business requirements. We describe the overall architecture into which the content recommendation functionality fits, as well as its interfaces with other network components, external databases, social networks, and applications. Finally, we discuss a dedicated network provider play, the business opportunities, and several business models for content recommendation. (C) 2011 Alcatel-Lucent.