Video analytics are no longer enough – you need video insights

The reason Pay-TV providers aren’t as data-driven as their internet competitors isn’t because they lack data—it’s because they’re not leveraging it to its full potential.

Zoom in a little, and it’s easy to see why: the video data pouring in from countless services and devices creates a fragmented and disjointed dataset  that most video analytics tools were never built to resolve.

In this multi-part blog series, we’ll explore why an integrated approach restores data unity to the divided video experience today—and why holistic video analytics unlocks powerful business insights that drive better outcomes and more value for everyone. 

And the best part? Taking action is way easier than you think.

There’s something missing from traditional video analytics

Traditional video analytics solutions typically focus on one half of the potential value locked up in video data: operational performance. They’re great for transforming streams of network data into meaningful insights around video quality.

And that’s important: subscribers won’t stick around if they’re not getting a consistently high-quality video experience.

But likewise: users don’t stick around for visual fidelity alone. To attract new customers—and keep them around for the long haul—you also need video insights that help you optimize your content availability. 

Understanding precisely what subscribers want to watch and how they like to watch it is a huge competitive advantage. The trouble is that most video analytics solutions were built to address either  video quality insights or content availability insights. 

To build a truly holistic, end-to-end view of user behavior and experience, you need a solution that does both—breaking down silos for good. 

Why smashing silos unlocks value-driving insights

As consumers watch video content across a myriad of services and devices, they leave a trail of valuable content performance data in their wake. Things like:

• What they’re watching…
• On what device…
• For how long…
• When…
• Where…
• How they discovered it…

Analyzed together, data points like these contain a universe of potential insights that unlock better decision-making and drive continuously improving business outcomes. 

The trouble is that upon creation they’re immediately locked behind different ecosystems and platforms, with no way to join the dots and realize the value within. (And this challenge is compounded by the fact that there are typically multiple consumers in a single household.)

The answer isn’t to  add yet another data analytics solution on top of the others—that would just create another silo.

The solution is to bridge the gaps between all video data—content  and quality—to weave the data across your networks, platforms, services and end-user devices into a single (and more meaningful) bigger picture.

How video insights can help video providers come out on top

Holistic video insights solutions are key to delivering the standout content, experiences, and services that will put you laps ahead of your competitors.

Video insights bridge your siloed data and move past one-dimensional analytics to unearth comprehensive, granular insights that reveal your customers’ viewing habits in microscopic detail.

Insights allow you to understand things like:

• Which content, services, and features drive subscriber engagement (and which ones don’t) 
• How service and experience errors impact your customer retention
• How effectively your user experience enables content discovery
• How to group subscribers based on their behaviour and preferences

 This isn’t just a more comprehensive picture than traditional video analytics solutions—it’s a springboard to a much bigger opportunity.

 When you have deep insights, you can make smarter decisions that deliver better customer experiences and—ultimately—longer-lasting, higher-value relationships.  

Smarter decisions that enable you to:

• Acquire content your customers love (and proving it with ROI tracking)
• Drive subscribers to engaging and relevant content, at the perfect time, on the right devices
• Segment your audience in ways that let you accurately identify and address the needs of the household 
• Upsell enhanced services and create high-value offers (based on behaviors or preferences) for individuals

The point is, when you’re able to continuously extract insights from your raw data to guide smarter decision-making, you cultivate a sustained competitive advantage.

 And that’s where our new business insights solution comes in.

Introducing Synamedia’s new business insights solution 

Synamedia’s new business insights solution gives you complete visibility over your video ecosystem, transforming fragmented raw data into actionable insights that move the needle on your most important business outcomes.

Combining video-specific data analytics tools and dashboards with our decades of video industry expertise, our solution empowers Pay TV providers to leverage value from your biggest—and most underutilized—asset: customer data.

We’ve touched on some of the cool things you can achieve with it, but this is only the start.

Watch out for our next blog in this series to discover the full extent of how insight-driven decision-making can transform the services and experiences you offer to your customers.

We’ll also reveal the shiny new brand name that we chose for our Business Insights solution. So watch this space.

For a sneak preview of how Synamedia’s Business Insights solution helps you gain a deeper understanding of your customers and grow your competitive advantage, watch this trailer.