MightyTV
AcquiredNew York, US · Founded 2015 · Delaware corporation · 2 known investors
New York video discovery startup whose Tinder-style app recommended TV and film titles; acquired and shut down by Spotify in 2017.
Also known as Mighty TV
Founders & leadership
MightyTV was founded in 2015 by Brian Eugene Adams.
Board
Investors · 2
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$2M disclosed across 1 of 2 rounds · 2016
▶$2MraisedJun 2016 · 3 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Brian Eugene AdamsExecutive Officer, Director
- Dan CiporinDirector
- Santo PolitiDirector
- Michael BarrettDirector
- Offering amount
- $2.3M
- Amount sold
- $2M
- First sale
- May 2016
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2015
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026MightyTV was a New York-based content discovery startup founded in 2015 by Brian Adams, previously co-founder and CEO of the advertising optimization company AdMeld. Its consumer product was a mobile app that presented users with a stack of movie and TV show titles which they swiped through in a Tinder-like interface, marking whether they had seen a title and whether they liked it. Based on that input, the app generated personalized watch recommendations and let users save titles to a watch list. The app connected to streaming services including Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go, and could produce recommendations that fit the overlap between two users' tastes, drawing on friends and contacts to surface new titles.
The app launched on iOS in April 2016 and became available on Android in September 2016. The Android release added features such as an "MQ" word cloud summarizing a user's favorite genres and actors based on swiping data. Around the same time, the company rebuilt its recommendation machine learning, moving to what Adams described as a hybrid approach combining genre-based similarity with collaborative filtering from user ratings.
On 27 March 2017, Spotify announced it had acquired MightyTV for undisclosed terms and simultaneously discontinued the app, removing it from Google Play and Apple's App Store. The eight-person team joined Spotify, based across its New York City, Toronto and Stockholm offices, with Adams becoming Spotify's VP of Technology focused on advertising and marketing technology.
Founding story
MightyTV was founded in 2015 by Brian Adams. Adams had founded the publisher monetization and advertising optimization company Admeld in 2007, which was sold to Google in 2011 for a reported $400 million. He subsequently worked at Google running the DoubleClick Publisher Platform, serving as group product manager and then product management director, before leaving to start MightyTV.
Business model
MightyTV operated a free consumer mobile application for video discovery. Published sources do not describe a disclosed revenue model for the product before the company was acquired.
Traction
The company did not disclose cumulative downloads. It reported that users averaged 350 swipes in their first week of use. At the time of acquisition the team numbered eight people.
Latest developments
Spotify announced the acquisition on 27 March 2017 and shut the MightyTV service down immediately, delisting the app from both major mobile app stores. Founder and CEO Brian Adams became Spotify's VP of Technology, tasked with applying his experience in programmatic advertising and personalized recommendations to Spotify's advertising products and marketing technology platform. Commentators characterized the transaction as primarily an acqui-hire.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
A small, venture-backed entrant in video content discovery and recommendation, an area described in coverage as competitively important for streaming services seeking to serve less-engaged users. Spotify's stated rationale for the purchase focused on the recommendation system's applicability to advertising technology and marketing personalization rather than on the consumer video market.
Coverage attributed MightyTV's distinctiveness less to its Tinder-style swipe interface than to its combination of recommendation approaches, blending aggregated user-rating signals with models of an individual's personal taste, plus the ability to recommend across the overlap of two users' preferences.
Technology
The product was built on a recommendation engine using machine learning. Following a 2016 rebuild, the company used a hybrid approach combining genre-based content similarity with collaborative filtering derived from aggregated user ratings, blended with signals about the individual user's taste captured through swipes. Adams said the rebuilt system reached the recommendation quality at 50 swipes that had previously required 200 swipes at launch. The app also integrated with streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go and could compute recommendations at the intersection of two users' tastes.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer distribution through the Apple App Store and Google Play, with the iOS app launched in April 2016 and Android added in September 2016.
Consumers using subscription streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go who were choosing what to watch next.
Geography
Headquartered in New York. After the acquisition the team was distributed across Spotify's New York City, Toronto and Stockholm offices.
History
Founded in 2015 in New York. The mobile app launched in April 2016 on iOS, followed by an Android version released on 29 September 2016 alongside a rebuilt recommendation engine. The company raised an additional $2 million in 2016, bringing reported total funding to $4.25 million. In March 2017, roughly a year after launch, Spotify acquired the company and shut down the service; the team of eight moved to Spotify.
Risks & controversies
The product was discontinued upon acquisition, ending the consumer service roughly a year after its launch. Deal terms were not disclosed by either party.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsSpotify acquired MightyTV for undisclosed terms. The eight-person team joined Spotify across its New York City, Toronto and Stockholm offices.
MightyTV founder and CEO Brian Adams joined Spotify as VP of Technology, focused on advertising and marketing technology platforms.
Following the acquisition, Spotify discontinued the MightyTV service and removed the app from Google Play and Apple's App Store.
MightyTV brought its Tinder-style recommendation app to Android, adding an 'MQ' word cloud of favorite genres and actors and shipping a rebuilt hybrid machine-learning recommendation system.
The company raised an additional $2 million, bringing total reported funding to $4.25 million.
$2M source ↗
MightyTV's swipe-based movie and TV recommendation app launched, initially on iPhone.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Spotify has acquired video discovery startup MightyTV — a sign it's about to go big on ad techbusinessinsider.com · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does MightyTV do?
- New York video discovery startup whose Tinder-style app recommended TV and film titles; acquired and shut down by Spotify in 2017.
- Who founded MightyTV?
- MightyTV was founded by Brian Eugene Adams in 2015.
- Who are MightyTV's investors?
- MightyTV's investors include Canaan Partners, Spark Capital.
- How much funding has MightyTV raised?
- MightyTV has disclosed $2M raised across 1 of its 2 known rounds.
- Where is MightyTV headquartered?
- MightyTV is headquartered in New York, US.