The keys to success based on Big Data – through its work on Big Data, Netflix has grown from a DVD-by-mail rental company to a global leader in the entertainment industry. Netflix collects and analyzes all kinds of consumption data made by its users. From what they search for and how they label each content to where, when and how they consume each content. Undoubtedly, the important thing is how they take advantage of this data analytics to improve their services in the following aspects:
- Hyper segment, the customer.
- Individualized recommendations of content related to the tastes that your consumption shows.
- A simple, usable and personalized content platform for each subscriber, with a better user experience.
- Predict keys to success and trends, getting more right than the competition when producing and generating your content.
How to turn predictions into an exact science
The subscription video platform knows how to take advantage of the possibilities offered by Big Data and Deep Data, which reveals the actual value of data. It does not decide its content as traditional chains do, consulting the “crystal ball” of a few managers, but studies the behaviour and habits of its consumers.
Netflix has it easy to access the information of its viewers. Unlike media such as television, which are based on screen quotas, the video provider can extract the data of all its users:
- What searches do
- What devices do they use?
- What is your favourite day?
- How much time do they spend on the service and each of the contents
- If they see the entire or partial chapters and even what fragments, they watch again
- At what point do they leave the viewing, and if they recover or abandon it
- Consumer Ratings
- What preferences do they have in common with their friends or the audience in the same geographical area?
- The information from their profiles on social networks…
All this knowledge and intelligence makes the definition of each product and program stop being an artist and become a science.
More predictions
The information they have collected for almost 20 years allows them to decide which movies and series to include in their grid. And in this way, the American firm sweeps all the countries where it is established. Each offers to program adapted to the data it has collected, stored and analyzed from viewers in that region.
Thanks to Big Data, Netflix has gone from being a content distributor to becoming one of the most successful production companies, earning it several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and other recognized industry awards. It is enough to compare the results of conventional channels with those of the streaming video platform:
When a television channel launches a new series, it has only a 35% chance of succeeding and staying on the grid. When Netflix does it, its cases rise to 70% (if we look at the number of its content that manages to continue a second season).
Betting on success: “House of Cards” or “Narcos.”
This is what happened with the acclaimed “House of Cards”. Netflix was then known as a technology firm and sought to gain a foothold in entertainment. And for this, he bet big: he invested 100 million dollars in producing his series that, in addition, hung on the platform, contravening all the uses and customs of conventional media.
It was an unprecedented success that, however, did not catch the company itself by surprise: “They could do it safely because they had analyzed their audience, they knew how they would respond to a political drama, that they liked the director David Fincher and that the British version It had been a success,” explained Kevin Spacey, the protagonist of the series.
But they didn’t use Big Data to ensure “House of Cards” would succeed; they also confirmed that it would employ a data-driven promotional strategy. To do this, they made ten versions of the trailer aimed at different audiences, segmented based on their behaviour on the platform.
The same recipe was used for the design of Narcos. Netflix used Big Data analytics to predict the optimal launch time, casting, and series evolution.
In short, Big Data has also improved its users’ loyalty. But how exactly did you do it?
How to raise usage to stave off the risk of downside
To avoid unsubscribing, Netflix can determine how many hours per month a subscriber must use the service. So, the minute you realize that the average usage share is lower than the ratio you’ve identified, you take steps to increase it.
For this reason, the company has implemented techniques that make it easier for the user to continue in the application once they have finished viewing the chosen content:
– In the case of a series, when a chapter ends, the next one is automatically played.
– When it comes to movies, the platform launches recommendations for other content (personalized according to the data it has on that consumer) just before the credits appear. To access these products, press the indicated button from the same screen.
Business success thanks to Big Data
The results of its strategy have led Netflix to be one of the fastest growing companies, with 11 billion dollars in billing, multiplying its stock market valuation by 2 in the last year and having more than 125 million subscribers to its streaming service. Television on demand. Other companies like Spotify also owe their success to date.
Like Netflix, you too can monetize your data and establish data analysis models that help your company make decisions about its customers and products more safely and quickly than your competitors. At DataCentric, we are experts in advising on Big Data strategies and database management. Advice and leadership that can give your company the most significant competitive advantage of all: knowledge of your customers and the sector.
