To restore context information about a clip that was sampled from a broadcast program, the clip is identified by matching a digital fingerprint of the clip against a database of known digital fingerprints taken from broadcast programs. If the clip can be identified, it is then associated with information about the matching broadcast program. The loss of context data about the clip obtained from a broadcast program is thus remedied, enabling media content available online to be more useable for a variety of purposes, such as media searching, automatic broadcast attribution, and targeting advertisements.