Automatic keyword tagging for video coming soon

MediaSoon notes that, "the European Union funded aceMedia venture has developed a system to automatically tag or keyword video and image content. They do this by using computer algorithms to analyse the composition of individual frames. Partners in the aceMedia consortium include Motorola, Philips, the University of London and France Telecom."

While the current focus of the project is to help consumers tag their own content (home movies, photos, etc.), there are certainly implications for digital signage and other forms of retail media. For example, a few weeks ago I wrote about the possibility of Google-YouTube automatically providing ads or content to disparate digital signage networks based on some kind of tagging mechanism. While I suggested that Google may want to maually screen the videos, a tool like this could help reduce the work needed to categorize and apply massive amounts of content.

Likewise, digital signage software makers could add this type of technology to their products to allow customers to share spots, content, etc. based on a common tag vocabulary, suggested by the computer, with the opportunity for some hand-tweaking, if necessary. As Paola Hobson, the Project Coordinator at aceMedia says:

“You can’t make money out of content if people can’t find it, and the cost of annotating content manually is enormous. Automatic annotation will help people find what they want, and they would consume more of it.”

They may be thinking about the consumer market, but when it comes to monetizing content search and indexing, the company is sure to find plenty of opportunities in the B2B space.

Tags: tagging, digital video, advertising, digital signage