Recently, OTT.X hosted a webinar titled Weathering the OTT Data Storm featuring a conversation about OTT data between Paul Hutton, Senior Director of Digital Intelligence at Allen Media Group (AMG) and Mark Moeder, CEO of SymphonyAI Media.
While the AMG comprises several businesses that include live TV production and broadcast affiliate networks, Hutton’s team focuses on providing data intelligence to AMG stakeholders with respect to the organization’s digital distribution, such The Weather Channel App, Local Now, TheGrio, and Pattern.

In this blog, we’re highlighting the top five insights from their in-depth discussion, which touched on topics like data collection and analytics challenges for content sellers in the OTT space, the need for data transparency between OTT platforms and content sellers, and the future of OTT data intelligence and automation technologies.
To get all the insights, watch the full, on-demand webinar.

Top 5 insights from OTT.X Webinar Wednesday with Allen Media Group

Lack of standardization is a significant barrier to understanding OTT data

Early in the conversion, SymphonyAI CEO Mark Moeder asks Paul Hutton to break down some of the biggest challenges faced by the AMG data intelligence team when it comes to understanding OTT data and generating insights.
In his response, Hutton cites the rapid emergence of FAST services and the lack of data standardization between platforms as a major obstacle to understanding OTT data:

“The FAST space has really taken off over the last few years…and [the platforms] all view and collect and report their data very differently. Trying to combine all of that information and tell a cohesive story is probably one of the biggest challenges we face.” -- Paul Hutton, AMG

[wistia-video id="zrda78b2j4" align="right"]Hutton goes on to point out some of the disparate ways in which today’s FAST platforms are providing data:

“Some of [the platforms] are still providing Excel files, some not even on a regular basis. Sometimes they have an interface, but the data there may only be available once a month. Or maybe it’s weekly, but may be delayed for 3-4 weeks before it’s available…Some have built really rich consoles where you can actually go in and pull everything you need…But I would say probably less than half have a truly rich database or information they can provide on a regular basis.” -- Paul Hutton, AMG

Data normalization is key to enabling timely analytics and insights

Data normalization, the process of standardizing data to prepare it for analysis, was a recurring theme.
Here’s what Paul had to say when asked about the business impact of dealing with non-standardized data from OTT platforms:

“When you’re spending time cobbling data together from various sources, some downloaded from a console, some sent in an Excel file, some platforms providing audience data, some providing visitor data, it’s all over the place. It makes it nearly impossible to tell a true and accurate story about content performance in an acceptable time frame. Providing that reporting 2-3 months late doesn’t help the business…It slows down growth because the information is too limited to make strategic decisions with.” -- Paul Hutton, AMG

Measuring MAUs can help content owners understand asset performance

Webinar moderator Jose Rodriguez from OTT.X asked Paul Hutton to highlight which data points from OTT platforms were most helpfu l for informing content investment, production, and distribution strategies.
In response, Hutton mentioned the importance of measuring Monthly Active Users (MAUs) and why it matters to AMG’s business philosophy:

“MAUs is the key one because a lot of our content is about being part of our audience’s daily habits. All users have a limited amount of media consumption time, so one of the indicators we use to determine if we’re meeting our mission is if we’re seeing repeat usage, if audiences are allocating a certain part of their limited media consumption time to our brands.” -- Paul Hutton, AMG

Data transparency benefits OTT platforms and content owners

Over the past 12-18 months, Mark Moeder has been vocal about the need for increased data transparency between OTT platforms and the content sellers who provide them with content.
With some OTT platforms still expressing hesitancy to share data with content partners, Mark Moeder makes a convincing case for data transparency:

“A lot of distributors are resellers…I’m taking this thing and I'm reselling it to another audience, and understanding what that audience is resonating with should be informed back to the content owner because I want more of that. To me, that’s really the biggest benefit. I’m reselling a product, I want better product, the people making that product need the data in order to do so.” -- Mark Moeder, SymphonyAI Media

Revedia Digital helps AMG accelerate data normalization and drive insights

Paul Hutton and his team at the Allen Media Group are using the Revedia Digital platform by SymphonyAI Media to aggregate and normalize data from OTT platform partners and accelerate insight generation to support business decision-making.

More than 300 media organizations are solving data and revenue management challenges with help from SymphonyAI Media.

[wistia-video id="qqzbcrp125" align="right"]Here’s how Paul Hutton described the challenges and the impact:

“Our senior management is used to being able to get data on a regular basis…to track, understand, and analyze their business decisions, but as we were expanding into the FAST space, that access to data was really disparate. We had team members spending 10-15 hours a month just collecting and trying to cobble the data together – which is time they're now able to spend focusing on learning what it really means for the business.” -- Paul Hutton, AMG

Watch the full webinar to get all the insights

In this blog, we touched on just five moments from Weathering the OTT Data Storm. The full-length webinar is free to watch on-demand and features more valuable insights into:

• The importance of OTT data to inform strategic decision-making,
• Potential applications for real-time OTT data at Allen Media Group,
• How OTT platforms are responding to requests for data,
• The greater propensity for risk-taking in the OTT distribution space,
• How FAST is creating opportunities for AVOD monetization,
• Structuring OTT distribution and revenue-sharing deals,
• The future of OTT data intelligence platforms,
• And more!