Lucas Bertrand, ceo of digital distribution and VoD content marketing company MoMedia on how producers can make use of big data and social media
To understand the significance of social media and big data consider brands such as TuTiTu.
TuTiTu is a global hit you may never have heard of. It has millions of subscribers and over 2 billion views. The producers from Israel have built an audience of parents and 2 to 3 year olds. They know that they have had 250m views from Vietnam, 400m from the US and that more than 55% of their audience is watching on a phone. For them to now create new content for other VoD services and broadcasters is a no brainer.
They know where their show works and doesn’t work and how their audiences are engaging with it. Their audiences are telling them what they like and don’t like. It’s like having their audience as a one of the writers of the show. They are a great example of a kid’s producer making smart, data-driven decisions.
Big Data for some, small data for the rest of us
In order to make data driven decisions – you need to start with small data. Start now.
We all have access to data from various sources. What are people saying about your title on Facebook and Twitter, what are they saying about subjects you are interested in creating projects on? How many people are watching your trailer or clips on YouTube, what are they saying?
The point is, there is a tonne of data but you have to use it to understand it. Start visualizing the data you already have. It’s like a weather forecast. With practice you can ‘learn’ how to use it. Start with a few data points and over time you will know if it’s growing or shrinking and if that’s a good thing. Over time you’ll build insights and knowledge about your data and this will feed into your decision making. Keep it simple, not too many data points, just a few useful ones that you are going to regularly look at in your Monday morning meeting. Start now and you will have some useful reference points in no time.
What to do with these insights? I was speaking to a producer in Canada recently who told me that they started tracking their social media and found that one of their old titles was still talked about by a large audience on Facebook and Twitter. So it’s time to dust off the show, update it for broadcast and release the old version on VoD platforms. Then tell their social audience where they can watch it. If only it was that easy!
That ‘release it on VoD platforms part’ is one of the biggest pain points for producers. Many platforms won’t work directly with producers, forcing them to go through an aggregator and approved technical partner. Others are simply not suited to your style of content or have the wrong business model. You need to be realistic about your content, audience and the best places to reach them. It’s worth looking outside the big global platforms and targeting local VoD services. These often drive more revenue and can be easier to get the marketing, placement and right audience mix. Make sure you can maximise the ‘windows’ across VoD.
This means if your titles is a film, doc or great TV show then get it into the retail stores first (iTunes, Google, Amazon, Sky Store) before offering it to the subscription services. If it’s old or a lower priority title, then go straight to the subscription services and then think about the free ad-funded services like YouTube.
And make it look great! VoD is sold by the artwork, title, price, reviews and links from your social media. Make sure it looks great and the copy you write makes it exciting – this is retail! Get it on the shelf, make it stand out, get the price right and keep learning!
Lucas Bertrand is CEO of MoMedia
Lucas Bertrand
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