Spotify acquires MightyTV, helps users decide what to watch

Spotify Ltd. declared it had acquired MightyTV, a television and film recommendation app that seeks to help users decide what to watch. The startup will soon integrate the technology into Spotify as it shuts down its video app.

The news was announced by the world’s largest music streaming service through a statement on its website. “Today we are pleased to welcome the team from MightyTV to Spotify,” the statement reads. The terms of the deal were not immediately made available.

Brian Adams, MightyTV’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, will sit as Spotify’s vice president of technology as it joins Spotify’s effort to develop technology that allows advertisers to target specific groups. “Brian and his team will help us continue to innovate on free monetization and extend our leadership position in programmatic audio,” Jason Richman, VP of Product at Spotify, said.

He also mentioned that the content recommendation system MightyTV was known is incredibly aligned with how they think about advertising technology and marketing personalisation. The team up is expected to lead to smarter music recommendations so users are more likely to press play.

"We’re really excited about the road ahead. Thanks so much for your support of MightyTV,” MightyTV said on its website. Adams recognised that the music streaming service has built the leading marketplace for both fans and creators. He described it as an “enormous opportunity” for him and the rest of their team to help create “native brand experiences that stay true to a product that millions love.”

The Tinder-style mobile app was available for both iOS and Android. Much like Tinder, a dating app, MightyTV’s recommendations improve as users utilise the product more. It also collects a variety of several approaches in making its suggestions, considering both those from aggregated user ratings and those that better understand one’s personal taste. MightyTV is Spotify’s sixth deal since last year.

Spotify had earlier announced that it acquired Sonalytic, another technology startup which also offered content recommendations and could recognise song snippets and even songs playing at live events. It allows users to find music at a given context, such as road trips and gym workouts. The MightyTV will be appointed to work in Spotify’s New York City, Toronto and Stockholm offices.

Adams founded Admeld in 2007, a publisher monetization platform that was sold to Google in 2011. He then worked for Google and took care of the Doubleclick Publisher Platform.