This interview is part of our Expert Advice series, where CEO's, CMO's and best selling authors share their expertise.
Bryan: What is Jinni.com?
Yosi: Jinni is a taste-based guide for professional video (movies and TV shows).
Jinni.com, often called “Pandora for movies,” offers an intuitive way for users to discover new movies and TV shows to watch. The service includes search/browse by mood (e.g. “funny and thought-provoking” or “clever, criminal heroes”), personalized recommendations, and taste-based social features. With integration to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other online content providers, Jinni.com is the personalized starting point for choosing and getting linked to watch. We get over 1 million unique visits/month.
Jinni also provides API-based solutions for Internet content providers and TV operators. Our customers include two tier-one U.S. cable companies and Belgacom (Belgium’s leading operator).
Bryan: What led you to create Jinni? What problem does it solve?
Yosi: The average viewer has access to content via live TV channels, VOD, online services like Netflix and Amazon, and maybe DVR as well. In other words, we're overwhelmed with choice.
Genres (e.g. action, comedy), rather vague and stuffy categories originally designed for back-office cataloging, are still the favorite way of presenting options. In my decade of working in the TV industry, I saw how limited data prevents TV operators from designing more intuitive interfaces for their VOD offerings. This is because the UI is only ever as good as the underlying data.
Jinni helps users discover content easily and intuitively, based on their current moods and personal tastes. Our service is based on what we call the “Movie Genome.” It contains thousands of “genes” (semantic tags) that are assigned to each title to describe plot, mood, style, setting, soundtrack and more. New titles are indexed by analyzing user reviews and metadata, using innovative Natural Language Processing technology.
Bryan: What does “Jinni” mean?
Yosi: Jinni is an alternative spelling for “genie”… hence our tagline, “Watch what you wish for”!
Bryan: Being the head of an entertainment Web site, are you the movie buff that everyone would assume you are?
Yosi: I love movies! But I’m not doing it all alone. Jinni has a team of film professionals who bring their expertise to Jinni's development.
Bryan: Do you offer a premium version or is it always free? How do you monetize Jinni?
Yosi: We have plans to offer a premium version of Jinni down the line. But the current service that's offered for free will always be free. We already have revenue from our customers – of course, we expect this to increase over time. And we’re monetizing Jinni.com through affiliation with large content providers.
Bryan: How do you handle design/content work? Is it done in-house? Or outsourced?
Yosi: Jinni is a young company… We have our own team of film professionals and all our design and content work is done in-house. This means the people who understand Jinni best are the ones who are envisioning and shaping our product.
Bryan: How do you market Jinni? Do you use purchased online or print ads, good SEO, and/or link building?
Yosi: We’ve been lucky to receive some great press and recognition from awards panels like the Webby Awards, Red Herring, and more. We have a very small marketing budget, so all our marketing efforts require creativity and plenty of in-house work – via SEO and link building, press outreach, social media tools, and some limited online advertising.
Bryan: What role does social media play in the sites promotion and growth?
Yosi: Social media has played a key role from the beginning in getting the word out about our service and reaching out to users. We’ve made extensive use of social tools, from Twitter and Facebook to StumbleUpon and forums.
