Is personalized video content coming to a TV, smartphone and tablet near you?

Smartphones and tablets are highly personal devices, largely customized with the content and user experience that users want to view. That paradigm could be shifting to TV as well. Five years from now, a viewer will turn on his or her TV and see a host of content being offered that is tailored specifically to that individual. Not just a list of cable programs that are on, but a host of selections from TV programming to over-the-top content, to lifestyle and shopping recommendations--all changing to suit the time of day or even the viewer's mood, so to speak. At least, that's what content providers want to happen.

If it seems as if the latest buzzword in the OTT dictionary is personalization, that's because this aspect of content discovery is fast becoming an important component of providers' search and recommendation platforms. As consumer demand for content continues to grow, and as both traditional operators and new OTT entrants look to stand out in the IP video market, personalization of content is now a driving concern. For more on this trend, check out this FierceOnlineVideo special report