EXCLUSIVE: As churn continues to bedevil top streamers, one emerging firm has hit on interactive, AI-driven ways to keep viewers in the fold.
Versus, which has been operating in stealth mode, has worked with platforms like Disney+, Paramount+ and HBO Max, along with the NFL and content providers like Lionsgate and Reddit. Its investors include an estimable group of tech and media vets, including Jeffrey Katzenberg, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, former Disney exec and TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, and TV production titan Mark Burnett.
AI overlays designed by Versus provide viewers with interactive experiences letting them “play along” with programming they watch or content they read on digital platforms. When viewers point their mobile phone at live sports, series, articles, streams and other content, Versus generates games, trivia, polls and challenges, and viewers make predictions, compete on leaderboards and win prizes. That game-ified experience mimics the way they use their phone day to day but it encourages them to interact with the streaming platform instead of bailing out in favor of TikTok or Instagram.
Watch on Deadline
Companies have deployed Versus as part of current series like The Madison and Landman as well as library shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and The Wire. It has also helped keep viewers engaged around films like Dune, Oppenheimer, Superman, Casablanca, Night of the Living Dead and Elf.
The objective is to keep viewers from leaving the platform and ultimately churning out of their subscriptions, thereby reducing the cost of wooing viewers back, which can reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars across the industry. The company claims significant benefits from its campaigns and partner integrations in terms of engagement, session time, retention, conversion and content starts. It says it has helped clients attain 16% greater session lengths and retention lifts of between 4.5% and 9.5%. Versus also reports content start rates exceeding 53% (compared to the 2% industry average), and week-over-week retention approaching 70% among engaged users.
So-called “second-screen” companies first came on the scene as subscription streaming began to take off in the 2010s, but those early players missed the AI revolution. Versus says its proprietary tech is more intuitive and fluid than that of predecessors, and can ultimately become part of its partner streaming services rather than existing in a separate app.
Versus is not focused on becoming a brand known to consumers but intends to continue operating as a B-to-B service provider. It is, however, making its first foray into direct-to-consumer streaming via FourPlay.ai, an interactive platform geared toward live sports like the World Cup along with other streaming fare and live events.
The company was founded in 2019 by tech entrepreneur John Vitti, who runs it as CEO. Jesper Hensen is chief technology officer of Versus Game. Hensen was previously GM of Yahoo Games, CEO of gaming infrastructure firm PlayerScale and a senior exec at Electronic Arts. The company makes money from a share of platform fees, sponsorship and ad integrations and revenue-generating interactive experiences.
“Versus was built on the belief that the future of entertainment is participatory, not passive,” Vitti said in a statement provided to Deadline. “AI is allowing us to transform content into something audiences can play, react to and engage with in real time, creating a more personalized and dynamic experience for fans while unlocking new value for media and entertainment partners. We believe that over time, AI will become a foundational layer in entertainment, making every piece of content more interactive, adaptive and monetizable.”
Tom Ryan, who co-founded pioneering free streaming platform Pluto TV and later ran streaming at Paramount after it the acquisition of Pluto, has come aboard as an investor in Versus.
“I’ve had a front-row seat to what John and the Versus team have built,” he said. “Their proprietary AI doesn’t just engage audiences – it helps solve some of the biggest challenges facing media companies today, including churn and conversion. With FourPlay, they’re putting that same technology into the hands of consumers, unlocking entirely new ways for fans and streaming platforms to connect.”