For years, broadcast and streaming media have followed a traditional model: content flows one way from creator to audience, with limited interaction and measurement. Viewers sit passively as shows, movies, or live streams unfold, leaving content creators with minimal insight into how their stories are received. As online platforms have become more interactive, the gap between creators and their audience has only grown wider and has become chaotic, as comments flood in too fast to track and social media discussions evolve separately from the content itself.
Despite the rise of social media and live streaming, media engagement remains fragmented and unsatisfying, especially for major media outlets. Lacking ways to directly engage around streaming video, audience conversation migrates to platforms like X, Discord, Instagram, or Reddit. However, those discussions often feel disconnected from the media that originally inspired them. Livestreamers and YouTube videos may have many comments, but these lack context and rarely spur audience-to-audience interaction. Content providers at all scales are blind to their audience's true reactions and preferences, unable to respond in ways that make audiences feel "heard."
As Stephan Fitch, Intelling Media co-founder, points out, "Traditional approaches fail because they treat audience engagement as a passive, disconnected experience, rather than a dynamic, multi-way conversation. Specific points of interest in content are difficult to locate, and an overwhelming volume of unorganized comments leads to missed opportunities for brands to engage with their audiences meaningfully and for audiences to engage with each other. The lack of advanced tools to analyze and filter engagement further exacerbates the issue."
Enter InCast, an innovative technology that reshapes the media landscape by creating a truly participatory experience. By integrating video content with real-time audience commentary, InCast fosters a more informed and meaningful media experience. The platform enables a dynamic interaction between content creators and audiences, allowing them to engage with media in ways never before possible. As the media environment continues to fragment, InCast addresses the growing need for a system that not only connects content and commentary but also organizes and distills these interactions in a way that enhances the overall experience for everyone involved.
The core of InCast lies in its proprietary "Narrative Intelligence" technology, a cutting-edge blend of AI and machine learning that intelligently organizes and maps audience comments onto content in real time. This system acts as a GPS for video -- guiding users through content and conversations, improving navigation, encouraging user engagement, and creating insights for audiences and content creators alike. As co-founder Scott Minneman explains, "Our goal with InCast is to create a truly participatory media experience that integrates audiences, editors, curators, and content creators into a healthy and thriving media ecosystem."
Intelling Media's three founders are technology pioneers and industry veterans with backgrounds in interactive media innovation from MIT, Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and Google.
Co-founder Marshall Spight witnessed firsthand the challenges of content production and online communities as the father of massively popular Minecraft YouTuber "Technoblade."
InCast is rooted in this expertise and has been developed as a solution for creating relevant and meaningful interactions between content creators and audiences. By mapping and organizing video and commentary, InCast empowers users to directly access and influence content, creating a more informed and engaged media ecosystem.
A content producer using an InCast integration can, for example, see how the audience is reacting to their story in real time, immediately understand what aspects and topics are resonating, and update their messaging accordingly. As relevant questions and comments surface, a content creator can actively respond or channel viewers to additional information, sites, or affiliate links. News broadcasts can highlight local community comments, insights, and even videos, offering a tailored, hyper-local perspective. Viewers watching a live stream are no longer lost in a rapid stream of comments. With InCast, both viewers and streamers can see and engage with main themes, specific topics, and clustered reactions, ensuring a more interactive and connected experience.
With its proprietary API architecture, InCast is designed to integrate seamlessly with the most popular video players and mobile applications, ensuring accessibility across various platforms. This flexibility, combined with its focus on fostering meaningful conversations, easier navigation, and deeper audience insights, makes InCast a game-changer for the media industry.
InCast is currently available in a bespoke form, with plans for a wider release in Q1 2025. As media companies continue to recognize the importance of evolving beyond one-way broadcast models, InCast is poised to play a central role in this transformation. Large digital and traditional media companies are already taking notice, understanding that they must adapt to meet the demands of a more interactive and engaged audience.
"We've already got a lot of attention from large media companies who understand the problem that they face with respect to their industry and the way in which they've engaged in the past," Fitch says. "They know and understand that they need to change."
The shift from traditional, one-way broadcasting to a more participatory, audience-driven approach can fundamentally reshape how stories are told and how media is consumed. By embracing technologies like InCast, content creators and platforms can meet the demands of modern viewers, who expect more than just passive consumption -- they expect to be part of the experience.
InCast's unique approach to integrating audience feedback into real-time storytelling positions it as a leader in the next generation of media engagement. By solving long-standing challenges with fragmented engagement and static content, InCast is helping content creators and platforms bridge the gap between them and their audiences. To learn more, visit www.intellingmedia.com.
