Google has a brand new knowledge graph for television and movie related searches… but they only appear on the types of searches that often implies that the searcher is likely looking to illegally download it instead of purchasing.
Here is how they appear, at the top of the search results for a television show.
And for a movie:
It seems to be appearing only for queries that imply the user is looking to watch the movie or television show, and not just doing generic searches about the show instead. However, generic search terms for movies and television shows – such as just the title alone – bring up the regular full information knowledge graph on the right side of the search results, with the purchasing options further down in the knowledge graph.
Here is what the same movie looks like with its usual right had side knowledge graph – it is much more detailed.
While some will view it as a “cash grab”, since the listings are essentially ads, they are offering alternatives to their own Google Play service, including Netflix, VUDU and Amazon.
But because these ads are showing up very prominently for searches that tends to be related to piracy, this could also be part of Google’s efforts to appease the movie industry by making it harder for sites with many DMCAs to rank well, and increase the likelihood that someone should legitimately obtain or watch a movie or tv show rather than download it illegally. It is worth noting that torrent and other types of illegal download sites dominate the search results for those types of searches.
The other thing noticeable about these knowledge graphs is that they are appearing front and center at the top of the search results but also that no other ads are appearing on the page for those keywords – even for very popular titles you’d think would contain ads.
It is unclear if these new knowledge graphs are a test, but many people are seeing them live.
Hat tip to Dan Barker who noticed the new style.
Added: They are also triggered by “<title> download” searches as well.
Jennifer Slegg
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