RTL Nederland and InSites Consulting Team with IBM to Enhance Television Viewer Satisfaction Using Social Analytics

Media provider increases online buzz and viewer ratings using IBM predictive analytics

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Jun 28, 2010, 12:00 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that RTL Nederland, a leading entertainment company in the Netherlands, and InSites Consulting, a European-based market research consultancy firm, are using IBM predictive analytics to evaluate the television programmes and increase viewer satisfaction by analyzing, interpreting and successfully responding to audience feedback from social media sources.

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RTL Nederland and InSites Consulting are using IBM predictive analytics software to obtain highly-valuable market insight from the opinions of viewers generated from social media sites or other online buzz regarding the television shows aired.

By capturing viewer insights on certain programs from social media sources, RTL Nederland was able to gather timely feedback from viewers on the television programmes 'X Factor' and 'So You Think You Can Dance'. This helped the entertainment company to better understand audience needs and preferences and at the same time increase viewer satisfaction and involvement.

RTL Nederland constantly incorporates much of the useful viewer feedback – for instance on the judging panel, the theme, the choice of music and the candidates - gathered on social media using IBM predictive analytics. When approaching the final episodes of these reality competition shows, the online buzz about the candidates even increased by about 400%, providing a very rich source of information on viewer likes and dislikes.

Entertainment shows 'X Factor' and 'So You Think You Can Dance' improve viewer satisfaction

RTL for instance decided to change the voting procedure in the middle of the live shows of 'So You Think You Can Dance'. Sentiment analysis demonstrated an increase in the positive buzz, indicating the viewers liked the adaptation of the programme format.

Furthermore, viewer requests were taken into account. As they mentioned several times the deficiency of information and visuals on what happens behind the scenes, the 'X Factor' candidates were given a handy cam to shoot a regular day, and the amateur footage was put on the internet site for everyone to watch, resulting in more positive buzz about the show.

"Collecting and analyzing feedback from our viewers from any communication channel is of great importance to RTL in order to offer programmes that are fully aligned with the target audience," said Emilie van den Berge, senior Research & Intelligence project leader at RTL Nederland. "Social media offers an excellent source of information. The project demonstrates that analyzing and deploying feedback obtained from social media data using IBM predictive analytics, provides useful input to enhance decision making and hence optimize our product offering."

"This approach enables RTL to evaluate and adapt its television programmes on the basis of answers it is getting without asking any questions," added Annelies Verhaeghe, senior consultant at InSites Consulting. "In contrast to interviewing, more and more people spontaneously give their opinions about brands and products on the internet. RTL for instance analyzed the sentiment of over 71,000 online conversations on 'X Factor', which provided them with a powerful tool to measure attitudes indirectly, and quickly adapt the programme to better respond to viewer needs and keep the audience more involved."

To listen to Annelies Verhaeghe of InSites Consulting discuss how social analytics can improve viewer satisfaction, please click here.

IBM recently announced new data mining and text analytics software that enables users to analyze information from social media sources, monitor changes in attitudes, uncover deeper insights and predict key factors that will drive future business success.

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