Order rows, shelves and home screens for a viewer from titles actually available in that market, with age-suitability applied, a viewer-facing reason attached and a named editor releasing the shelf.
Read the catalogue and the licence window, territory and platform entitlement each title sits inside today.
02
Read the profile's maturity setting, its stated preferences and the surface the shelf would appear on.
Reason
03
Rank eligible titles for the profile and state which signal moved each one up or down.
04
Assemble candidate rows and shelves against the editorial plan the merchandising team already set.
05
Choose artwork and copy from the approved asset set and record which asset was picked and why.
Decide
06
Drop any title whose window, territory or classification record does not cover that surface.
07
Hold a shelf for a named editor where suitability, a contractual placement or a policy flag is involved.
Out
08
Send the proposed ordering to the editor with its inputs, its reasons and the viewer-facing explanation.
09
Retain the candidate set, the ranking reason, the editor's change and the shelf as it was released.
→Product statement
The agent proposes an ordering and the reason behind it. It does not clear rights, set a classification, or put a shelf in front of a viewer on its own authority.
Example workflow
One shelf, end to end
AgentHuman
1Shelf requestedA scheduled home-screen refresh, a new row in the editorial plan, or a title going live
2Availability resolvedEach candidate set beside its licence window, territory and platform entitlement, stamped with the date the record was read
3Ordering proposedEligible titles ranked for the profile, with the signal behind each position and artwork taken from the approved set
4Suitability screenClassification and descriptors for that market, the profile's maturity setting, contractual placements and anything withdrawn
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run without a person in the loop — the availability read, the ordering and the suitability screen are finished before an editor is asked to look at anything.
5DecisionSplits on suitability and availability coverage
Eligible, suitability covered
Reaches the editor ready to read.
Suitability doubt or window gap
Held with the title named, not shipped.
Merchandising editor and compliance reviewer
A named editor decides what is promoted and clears any suitability question or contractual placement. Nothing reaches a home screen before that.
Approve · Reorder · Send back
Approved — handed back▼
6Released and explainedWritten to the merchandising surface only where the editor released it, with the viewer-facing reason attached
7Placement reviewedWhat was pulled or corrected after release, by surface, market and language, and where an availability record had gone stale
Reorders
Every position the editor changes is counted.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items
Releasing a row or shelf to a live surface.
Deciding a title's classification or content descriptors.
Overriding a rights window or territory restriction.
Changing a profile's maturity setting or kids mode.
Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided
✓Order eligible titles into a proposed row for a profile.
✓Check window, territory and entitlement before a title is ranked.
✓Apply the profile's maturity setting and stated preferences.
✓Choose artwork from the approved set and record why it was picked.
Write actions run only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation. A named editor releases the shelf.
Placing a paid or contractual promotion in a row.
Changing the ranking objective or its weights.
Reinstating a title withdrawn by compliance.
Turning off a viewer's stated preference or control.
Example output
One row on a home screen, annotated
Everything the agent proposes is attached to the shelf and the profile it was built for.
Ordering output · single rowIllustrative example
Row requested
Profile
Availability
Status
Confidence
Reason shown
Crime drama, home screen
Teen, UK market
Read today
Held for the editor
88%
Not published to the profile
As receivedThe row as the editorial plan defines it, the profile it targets, and when availability was read.
Evidence usedWindow open in this marketDescriptor missing on twoTeen maturity setting
Why it is heldTwo candidates carry no age descriptor for this market, and the surface is a teen profile.
ActionApproveReorderSend back
What the score decidesIt decides how closely the editor reads the ordering — not whether a title may run.
Value
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value landsValue 01 – 04
Every shelf and refreshFrom the editorial plan, the schedule and new releases
03Availability & suitability
Carry availability with the title
Candidates arrive with the window, territory and entitlement behind them, read at build time and stamped with the date.
01Approved path
Assemble the shelf before review
Candidate sets, ordering, artwork selection and the reason for each position are finished first, so the editor edits a proposal instead of building one.
02Human review
Catch the ineligible title early
Titles outside their window or territory, and placements a profile's maturity setting excludes, are held now instead of found in a viewer complaint later.
04Build an evidence trail
Retain the candidate set, the availability read, the ranking reason, the artwork chosen, the editor's change and the shelf as released — on both paths.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
Integration availability depends on the client's existing systems and API access.
Agent controls
Six layers between the model and the home screen
Each control wraps the one inside it. An ordering clears every layer before a shelf is released, and what a viewer then chooses to watch sits outside all six.
L6 · Outermost — last line of defenceInward → L1 · closest to the model
L6Rollback / safe modeFall back to the editorial ordering if evaluations or production signals degrade.Roll back
L5TraceabilityRecord the candidates, the availability read, the reason, the editor and the release.Record
L4Viewer transparencyEach row carries a plain reason and the control that changes or resets it.Explain
L3Editorial controlWhat is promoted, and any contractual placement, stops for a named editor.Gate
L2Suitability gateClassification, descriptors and the profile's maturity setting are applied first.Screen
L1Availability gateA title is checked against its window, territory and entitlement before ranking.Filter
Model coreOrdering proposed — ranked titles, chosen artwork, the reason for each position and confidence
L1 – L2Decide whether a title may be shown at all
L3Decides who clears what is promoted
L4 – L5Keep the reason visible and the trail intact
L6Pulls automation back when signals degrade
How Nestack evaluates it
Evaluate the ordering and what it was allowed to contain.
Coverage runs the whole depth of the workflow, and every layer is cut by slice.
Surface — the row a viewer sees on the home screen
Depth of coverage ▼
E1Final-output evaluationWas each title in the row available, suitable and correctly labelled?
E2Step-level evaluationDid it read the current window, territory and profile setting before ranking?
E3Tool evaluationDid it write the released ordering to the right surface and profile?
E4Explanation qualityDoes the stated reason match the signal that actually moved the title?
E5Slice evaluationHow does performance change across markets, languages and profile types?
E6Business outcomeHow many placements were pulled or corrected at review, and why?
Floor — the placements pulled or corrected after release
Failure modes
Where each failure originates in the agent
Seven failure modes plotted against the five stages of the agent lifecycle.
Agent lifecycleDirection of processing →
01 · Availability2 modes
RE-01
Expired window surfaced
A row keeps a title the licence no longer covers.
RE-02
Territory mismatch
A title available in one market appears in another.
Stage gathersCatalogue, windows, territory and platform entitlement
02 · Suitability1 mode
RE-03
Unsuitable title, kids profile
A missing or wrong descriptor passes the maturity gate.
Stage screensClassification, descriptors and the profile's maturity setting
03 · Ranking2 modes
RE-04
New title never surfaces
With no interaction history it never enters a shelf.
RE-05
Long tail stops appearing
A feedback loop keeps the long tail out of view.
Stage proposesThe ordering, the artwork and the reason for each position
04 · Assembly / write1 mode
RE-06
Artwork misreads the title
The chosen image implies content the title does not carry.
Stage writesOnly the ordering a named editor has released
05 · Change / Version1 mode
RE-07
Silent ranking regression
A weights or model change moves what is surfaced.
Stage tracksModel, ranking, artwork-policy and shelf-rule changes
Sev-1 · a title should not have been shownSev-2 · the row misrepresents what it holdsSev-3 · the shelf narrows or degrades
Kids and teen profiles, day-one licences and thin-metadata archive titles account for most of the placements an editor pulls, and a whole-catalogue number does not show it. Nestack reports performance by slice, not only in total.
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example
Slice
Failure rate
Lift
Lift vs. threshold
Status
Kids and teen profiles
5.3%
3.2×
Review
Newly licensed titles, day one
4.1%
2.5×
Review
Archive titles, thin metadata
3.1%
1.9×
Watch
Established, long-running series
1.2%
0.7×
Normal
Bar: pulled-placement rate lift vs. long-running series · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× threshold2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
A shelf that was right last week may not be right today
Windows close, classifications are re-issued and titles are withdrawn. An ordering nobody re-checks keeps surfacing a title the licence no longer covers.
Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
01Detect
Pulled placements, wrong-window reports or a narrowing shelf show up in one cohort.
02Diagnose
Traced to the availability read, the suitability record, a ranking signal, the artwork rule or a shelf definition.
03Improve
The record, rule or weighting is changed, re-approved by the named editor and version-linked.
04Verify
Re-run against held-out shelves, including the rows that were pulled after release.
05Learn
The pulled row is kept as a regression shelf and the rule is written into the merchandising standard.
Learn → DetectThe return edge. Every cycle re-reads windows, territories and classifications — a row that was eligible last month is not eligible now.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, catalogue and rights records, ranking and shelves, evaluation, surface integration, then production validation and handover.
WorkstreamWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
01Workflow discovery and automation-boundary definition.
02Catalogue, metadata and identifier assessment.
03Rights, avails and territory-window mapping.
04Classification, descriptors and maturity rules.
05Candidate generation and ranking logic.
06Artwork selection from approved asset sets.
07Shelf and row definitions with your editors.
08Viewer explanations and preference controls.
09Editor review workflow and sign-off record.
10Evaluation suite, slices and regression shelves.
11Merchandising-surface integration and rollout.
12Observability, deployment and Agent Care handover.
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallelFinal scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tierPilotOne surface, one marketProductionProduction catalogue integrationAdvancedMulti-market / multi-brand
Introduced at Pilot
Ranked candidate rows and shelves✓✓✓
Availability and window filtering✓✓✓
Age-suitability filtering by profile✓✓✓
Named-editor sign-off✓✓✓
Viewer-facing row explanation✓✓✓
Baseline evaluation✓✓✓
Artwork selection from approved assets✓✓✓
Introduced at Production
Merchandising-surface integration—✓✓
Observability and slice evaluation—✓✓
Multi-market and multi-language catalogues—✓✓
Introduced at Advanced
Multi-brand and enterprise controls——✓
Build priceFrom $5,000From $8,000Custom quote
Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on catalogue size, rights and classification systems in scope, surfaces and markets, profile and control integrations, approval controls and deployment requirements.
Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bringWe build with it
01Your catalogue, title metadata and identifiers→Catalogue, metadata and identifier assessmentWeek 1
02Avails, licence windows and territory records→Rights, avails and territory-window mappingWeek 1
03Classifications, descriptors and your maturity rules→Classification, descriptors and maturity rulesWeek 2
04The shelves and rows your editors already run→Shelf and row definitions, candidate generation and rankingWeek 3
05Approved artwork sets and the rules for using them→Artwork selection from approved asset setsWeek 3
06Placements you have had to pull, and the reason→Evaluation suite, slices and regression shelvesWeek 4
07Named editors for what is promoted→Editor review workflow, then rollout under sign-offWeeks 5–6
Nothing else is requiredDeployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
Phases are drawn over the weeks they actually occupy. Week 5 carries the first shelves released under an editor's sign-off.
PhaseW1W2W3W4W5W6
DiscoveryW1
BuildW2 – W3
EvaluateW4 – W5
Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focusW1Surfaces and markets in scope; who decides what is promotedW2Catalogue, avails and classification records wired inW3Candidate generation, ranking, artwork and shelf definitionsW4Viewer explanations, editor workflow, evaluation suite and slicesW5Surface integration and first shelves released under sign-offW6Live shelves under editor control, then Agent Care monitoring
Reading the bandAvails and classification records land in week 2, before any ordering is ranked in week 3. The bars show that dependency, not a smooth ramp.
At the end of W6Shelves have gone live under a named editor with the availability and suitability record behind every title, then Agent Care takes over monitoring.
DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Media AI agent
Build a recommendation agent around your catalogue and your editors.
Show us the shelves you run today, where your avails and classification records live, and who decides what goes on the home screen. We'll rebuild one live row from your own catalogue and show you the titles it would have surfaced outside their window or above a profile's maturity setting.
