TV executives embrace AI personalization while warning of content rabbit holes

Entertainment executives gathered at Cannes Lions to discuss how artificial intelligence, personalization, and short-form content are reshaping television viewing habits during what Google TV calls the “connected TV decade.” The discussion highlighted how streaming platforms are balancing hyper-personalized recommendations with the need to expose viewers to diverse content while integrating new formats like YouTube Shorts and TikTok-style videos.

What you should know: Major TV platforms are investing heavily in AI-driven personalization to help viewers navigate the overwhelming amount of available content.

• Google TV uses AI to aggregate content from all streaming apps and personalize recommendations based on individual viewing habits, showing sports content to sports fans and Bollywood shows to those who prefer that genre.
• The platform aims to make it “easier for me to find the content and then get to the apps that I want to directly in a very quick and easy manner,” according to Shalini Govil-Pai, Google TV’s vice president and general manager.

The big picture: Television is expanding beyond traditional long-form content to include social media-style short videos and user-generated content.

• “Shortform is a big wave that’s coming. Social is a big wave that’s coming. And then of course from the Google perspective, AI is another big wave that’s coming,” Govil-Pai said.
• Tubi, a free streaming service, is integrating short-form content into its mobile app “so that people can see clips of what we have save for later to watch on their CTV,” explained Chief Marketing Officer Nicole Parlapiano.

Why personalization has limits: Industry leaders warn against over-personalization that could trap viewers in content “rabbit holes.”

• Too much personalization leads to a situation where “people are only offered a certain kind of content,” with Google TV emphasizing the importance of exposing users to different recommendations.
• Disney’s Josh Mattison, executive vice president of digital revenue and operations for Disney Advertising, noted similar risks in advertising: “You can get too narrow too quickly and miss out what the bigger opportunity is…there’s actually clusters of you and there’s probabilistic data versus deterministic data.”

What they’re saying: Executives see user-generated content as crucial for building engaged audiences rather than passive viewers.

• “It’s not just about passively consuming content. Actually, if you really want to motivate a fandom, you want them out there doing stuff as well,” said Nicki Sheard, head of licensing and brand at BBC Studios, a British media company.