TV Group Starlightmedia has been testing TV viewing statistics of OTT service Lanet TV, in order to analyze the audience. This was announced on November 25, by Orest Biloskursky, Marketing Director at Starlightmedia, as “Detector Media” reports.
Mr. Biloskursky stated that OTT allows monitoring audience’s response to audiovisual product virtually in real time, rather than after data collection. In the future, it can be applied directly to change programming during broadcasts. Mr. Biloskursky singled out an example of the talk show “Svoboda Slova” (Freedom of Speech), i.e. due to interactive data of audience’s response to the invited guests, the show can be modified.
He also remarked that from now, the Starlightmedia has been testing data of the Promo package audience research offered by OTT service Lanet TV, roughly with 100 thousand users in that package.
“We compare their statistics with different TV viewing data and try to understand how it is correlated with the behavior of common audience. This is an additional tool to study audiences. If these data are correlated with the TV console ones, so it will open up new opportunities”, as Mr. Biloskursky explained.
Even though the Starlightmedia’s channels dropped out of the Promo package by Lanet TV, the marketers are very interested in statistics.
“We test the very architecture, and how the measurement works. Therefore, it does not matter what to test on. We look at other channels’ viewing, as well as the very behavior of subscribers at a macro level. If they respond to the ads in the similar way, so they may respond to the shows in that way”, as he presumes.
Mr. Biloskursky compared OTT service’s users with a large focus group.
“The TV console gives us certain data, while this tool allows for drilling down, i.e. why, how, and where? This is a qualitative study, which can provide answers to many questions. The bonus is the possibility to monitor the TV audience’s response virtually in real time. Within OTT audience, one can select a specific subsample, which is essential to researchers, and to put a question in an interactive online mode. For example, while watching the first run of the show “Patsyki” (Busters) on ICTV, users get pop-up windows, where they can answer questions. This is a qualitative tool for working with the audience in the future. You can not do it with common TV audience”.
Mr. Biloskursky also explained why the company started using data by Lanet TV, and not other OTT services.
“Lanet is the most open and most detailed, so their data are easy to test. OLL.TV is actually in the process of data generation. And you know how I treat the statistics by “VOLIA”, i.e. they have no service as such. Perhaps it does exist, but no one can share figures and calculation techniques”, as the StarLightMedia’s Marketing Director summed up.
