Eighty percent of all streaming time on Netflix is driven by their recommendation algorithm. Spotify uses a machine learning algorithm called BaRT, Big Data Real-Time, to allow for daily retraining of the algorithm for fine-turning recommendations to users of their music platform. Twentieth Century Fox uses predictive analytics to identify which actors they should hire in which roles. The “win” in the entertainment industry data science competition is dramatic and extremely profitable.
Netflix
Netflix’s initial, inventive business plan was to offer customers the convenience of renting DVDs online and having them delivered to their doorstep. They quickly realized the data they were gathering on their customers had far more potential for success in entertainment industry data science. Netflix uses machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of user data including viewing habits, ratings, and preferences to personalize content recommendations by individual. They use these techniques to penetrate international markets and have over 200 million paid subscribers across more than 190 countries.
Netflix invested heavily in streaming technology like Apache Kafka, Apache Flink and Amazon Web Services to make their service seamless. They use data analytics to make decisions on content acquisition, production and targeted marketing campaigns.
Spotify
In the early days of Spotify users generated their own playlists. Instead of relying solely on keyword matching or collaborative filtering, Spotify uses semantic search to understand the content and meaning behind user queries. This semantic search in natural language processing allows them to consider genre, mood, artist and geographic streaming data through social media integration.
Spotify created Discover Weekly that gives users a fresh selection of music based on individual users’ unique listening habits every Monday. Wrapped is an annual roundup of the most listened-to tracks by users with a summary of EACH listener’s top songs, albums, artists and podcasts. The results give user-specific statistics but also highlight global trends and new discoveries.
Spotify also supports their artists through data analytics. Their Fan Study helps artists understand how fans discovered them on Spotify. They also provide artists with demographic details like age group distribution and gender ratio of listeners for their material.
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox has a custom neural network that gives them predictions on what audiences want to watch next. Scriptwriters use this product to create winning stories. They compare in-progress scripts to past blockbuster hits to identify the plot points and stories that guarantee success. They also use predictive analytics to determine optimal filming locations although this analysis is still evolving. Location analysis works well when there is an existing data set, i.e. the site has been used multiple times previously, but for new locations, it has not been as effective.
Entertainment industry data science is revolutionizing how we consume and create entertainment. It not only enhances our engagement but also increases our satisfaction in the end product. A win for both sides of the market.
