Increasing Importance of Data Analytics for the Media & Entertainment Sector
Riding the digital wave is more of a necessity than a luxury today. With digitalization disrupting almost every industry, companies must reinvent themselves. This shift is majorly due to data & analytics. With my experience, I’m witnessing several media & entertainment companies kick-starting their digital journeys with a bang. For this you would agree, data is the key to any consumer-facing business. It helps to deliver the right content to the right audience. And, today, the M&E industry is strongly focusing on the consumer. Leveraging data can help them win the customers’ trust.
The consumers of digital media have grown over the last five years. And, new users are getting added every minute. Did you know, customer preferences, browsing patterns, advertising statistics, demographics and other data categories provide many insights? According to my experience, M&E companies can leverage them in multiple ways like:
· Build customer connect
· Improve efficiency in operations
· Provide content as a service
Data analytics is helping media companies create a competitive edge.
Using customer data to understand and predict behavior patterns is critical for organizations in this industry. Subscriptions, ratings, likes, comments, and more are important data sources today. They help analyze customer sentiment and address them accordingly. Media companies are leveraging such data, real-time, to achieve multiple ends.
Greater customer retention through content recommendations.
Customer data analysis helps media giants push recommended content during commercial breaks or as alerts. The advanced tools help companies to predict the right timing for breaks. As a result, advertising revenue has shot up. Online content providers are driving customer engagement through similar and related content. These could include videos through push notifications, autoplay and scroll lists. Both cross and up-selling are being driven through various approaches.
Better investment decisions based on predictive behavior analysis.
Online streaming companies are increasingly investing in original content and productions. These investments include TV series, movies, music & documentaries. To boost ROI, companies are increasingly leveraging advanced analytics. The results have been promising. Based on the success of online streaming pioneers, big media houses are using predictive analytics to plan future movie ventures.
Customizing advertisement based on customer preferences.
One of the top sources of revenue for online media services and entertainment companies is- advertisements. Instead of pushing the same adverts to all, companies are using data insights for audience segmentation and targeting ads. This benefits the advertisers to connect with their target audience and deliver personalized offers at right time. This directly impacts ad revenue! Online content platforms are using machine learning to build algorithm that increases the relevance of advertisements displayed for users.
Performance analysis in comparison with competitors
Media companies are doing their best to understand how their channels and content are being received by the audience. Other than the statistics drawn from within the company, there is interest in the comparative insights published by media research companies. These reports are crucial in driving strategic business decisions and planning future investments.
To ensure such insights are acted upon quickly, organizations are investing in automating the reports generation. It addresses pain points quicker and ensures better performance of channels.
What does the future of the M&E industry look like?
In an aggressively evolving global milieu, the media and entertainment industry remains one of the hotbeds of digital transformation. Using big data and AI, companies are driving profitability and innovative content strategies at the same time. Current business models are coexisting with newer ones. This is opening up the sector to ever-increasing possibilities. Driven by the power of data-driven insights, companies are willing to take calculated risks. They are testing out new platforms to develop and deliver best-in-class content. All this, in the hope of capturing a greater market share. There is a world of opportunities and technology available today. And businesses that don’t trust & involve data to take decisions may fail in the long run. So, what do you think about the future of a connected world for M&E companies? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
About the Author:
Saumil Shah, the CSO at Rishabh Software, is a technocrat with a successful track record of helping clients solve complex business problems. Under his strategic presidency, Rishabh has established a prominent market presence across multiple domains like Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, FinTech & more. He is an alumnus of IIT-Kanpur & London Business School and has been on the advisory panel of industry-leading bodies like NASCOM and GESIA. When he’s not busy solving business technology challenges, he enjoys playing tennis or football.
