The Voice 2014 winners during season 6 accurately foretold in Bing predictions

(Credit: The Voice)Season 6 Live Elimination April 22, 2014.

Microsoft's Bing has proven to turn data into useful insights. It can make predictions of events by processing signals that reflect real world happenings. Popular TV show "The Voice" is one example where Bing puts its prediction capabilities to work.

Part of Bing's prediction algorithm is the popularity of each event participant. In the internet world, popularity is defined by the frequency of searches mixed with keywords and social signals like those from Twitter and Facebook. Search, keywords and social signals are then processed to predict an outcome.

For The Voice, Bing's model take into account biases, like preferences in different regions and also gauges trends. This is combined with the contestants' prior fame, as well as with how they fare during the performance on the show - to balance latest fame with long term trends.

Although Bing predicts the outcome mainly from the contestant's performance, the data indicates people having favorites, such as some show participants already having gained a following.

Bing's prediction algorithm turned out to be accurate when its decision engine correctly predicted who would be eliminated on Tuesday night in "The Voice." It first predicted Delvin and Dani, but after the week's performance instead shifted to TJ Wilkins and Dani Moz.

The prediction feature on Bing can be checked out by affixing "predictions" to the end of your search on Bing. For instance, "The Voice 2014 predictions" will give a carousel display on top of the normal search results.

Later, Bing promises to include Dancing With the Stars and American Idol in its predictions. For now, the forecast feature only works with TV shows, but may later include sports matches, concert ticket prices, elections, popular vacation destinations and a lot more.

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