The Filter

The Filter provides TV personalization products and data science services to enhance viewer engagement, loyalty, and revenue for broadcasters and media companies. The company's core offering is a sophisticated recommendation engine that utilizes artificial intelligence and a Bayesian architecture to deliver personalized content suggestions across various platforms.

The concept was born from the vision of musician Peter Gabriel, who anticipated the need for content filtering in the digital age. In 2004, Gabriel partnered with software entrepreneur Martin Hopkins, who had developed AI software to manage his music collection by learning his tastes and generating recommendations. Together, they launched Exabre in 2004, which later became The Filter, with initial backing from the founders and venture capital firm Eden Ventures. Gabriel, a co-founder of the digital music distribution service OD2, brought significant experience in music and technology ventures to the company and remains an advisor and investor.

Initially, The Filter operated as a direct-to-consumer website for music and movie recommendations, attracting around 800,000 unique monthly visitors. In 2009, the business model pivoted to a B2B strategy, licensing its recommendation engine to other businesses. This shift proved successful, leading to contracts with major digital content providers like Nokia, Dailymotion, BT TV, and Warner Brothers. The company's revenue is generated through these licensing agreements and by tailoring its relevance platform for clients. In 2014, the service expanded to include e-commerce, securing contracts with retailers. A significant milestone occurred in March 2022, when Amsterdam-based video streaming provider 24i acquired The Filter.

The Filter's technology is designed to help users navigate vast content libraries by providing relevant suggestions, which in turn benefits their clients by increasing user engagement and loyalty. The platform processes data on user behavior to generate meaningful recommendations, enabling clients to integrate these insights into their own data ecosystems. The service has been recognized with several awards, including being named a Red Herring 100 Europe winner in 2008 and being selected for the UKTI's Digital Mission to SXSW in 2009.

Keywords: personalization, recommendation engine, data science, video streaming, media technology, content discovery, user engagement, AI, machine learning, Peter Gabriel, Martin Hopkins, TV personalization, metadata enrichment, content filtering, B2B technology, viewer loyalty, broadcaster solutions, streaming analytics, entertainment technology, customer retention