Media companies have endless new content thanks to software from XS2Content

By Elcke Vels

Artificial intelligence (AI) will change society significantly over the coming years. It could also be of a major boon to the media world. From radio shows without human intervention to automatically generated videos in 30 different languages: It sounds futuristic, but it is already possible with the AI-based text-to-speech techniques of XS2Content. In this instalment of Start-up of the Day, co-founder Richard Otto talks about how his company is faring.

What does XS2Content do exactly?

“We convert existing content from media companies, governments and other agencies into other forms of content. Think, for example, of converting text to a podcast or a radio program. We can also automatically translate video content – including lip sync – and generate it into various formats for a range of social media platforms. We make use of AI to do this and automate our processes as much as possible. We do this with existing techniques combined with our own technology, all in one platform. 

“For example, we translated a video message for Villamedia in the hope of reaching journalists in Ukraine. The video was originally in Dutch, but with the help of a bunch of overlapping techniques, we were able to convert it into Ukrainian.”

What advantages do companies gain from offering new forms of content?

“Among other things, they can use it to widen their reach. This is because you can respond to the consumption needs of people throughout the day with different forms of content. In the car, for example, you might be more inclined to put on a podcast, while in the office, you may prefer to read an article. You can also reach target audiences that were previously inaccessible for a company or agency. For instance, we have a partnership with the government, where we convert written pieces of text into an audio format so that the government can reach groups of people with low literacy levels in Amsterdam more effectively.”

What has been your greatest milestone so far?

“We’ve brought in a lot of major clients in recent years, such as the ANP, Talpa, DPG Media and Paramount Pictures. That’s something I’m really proud of.”

What challenges are you running up against?

“It can be tricky to gain broad acceptance within a company. We can partly do something about that ourselves, by clearly communicating exactly what we can do for a company. On the other hand, it does require some effort on the part of the parties themselves. Some of them don’t immediately see how they can benefit from our techniques, others find it kind of scary to work with AI, while you can actually use it as a time- and cost-saving toolbox.  

It reminds me of the resistance some journalists had back when social media was on the rise. Media companies then saw it as an ‘extra chore’ to spread their content through social channels. Now they see that it is really quite important after all. Innovations in the media world should be embraced, I think.”

What is the focus for you over the coming period?

“At the moment, we are mainly working on optimizing our platform. We’re constantly looking at ways to make the platform more accessible so that parties can also easily and quickly get started hands on themselves. It is important that our customers can easily fit the system into their daily routines. Moreover, in addition to publishers and broadcasters, we want to be more and more active in other sectors as well.”

What does XS2Content’s ultimate dream for the future look like?

“I hope that eventually a lot of our customers will say: J’ust give us the complete menu’. Then, to cite an example, a media company has written an article that they want to have in a podcast form on Apple Podcast and on Spotify. Also, the article is converted into a video newsreel with, for example, an avatar as a presenter. This is then also optimized for YouTube and other platforms. All content forms are subsequently made available in different languages. And this all happens automatically. It would be incredibly wonderful to be able to provide such a comprehensive package of services to most of our customers in the future.”

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