I just wrapped up a small project analyzing social media data on Ramadan TV programming in the region. (Ramadan , if you didn'tknow , is the holy Islamic month marked by a complete change in daily lifestyle and habits in Islamic societies. It's also the main / only seasonality in ME TV). Some of the findings were different from the public information available online. Now, the scale of the study was too small to base definite conclusions on one way or another. If anything , I'd discount it over the others. But the moot point is that it threw up a couple of different perspectives or hypotheses to explore.
And sometimes I think that's what's missing in our daily worklives amidst this deluge of information. It's often a lot of buzzwords and 'Have article, Will share' that completely substitues , instead of complement , primary research and the weighing of evidence. Metrics evolve but the fundamentals that those metrics are meant to measure remain valid irrespective of which era we operate in. The data era is about improving that , not erasing it. A data strategy is not the same as forwarding articles on data strategies ! :)
In my area of TV and Video , these are some key 'elephant in the room' questions for our region that turn out to be more challenging than they appear
1. Is there in fact a drop in linear / live TV consumption ?
2. If so , how much is it ?
3. Where is it going to specifically within on-demand ?
(a) Catch up service on existing TV connections ?
(b) Online streaming : You Tube ? Others ?
(c) Online download : Torrent ? Others ?
4. Which of those are addresseable for advertising and marcom ?
5. What forms of communication are appropriate , efficient and effective ?
What is a challenging ask anywhere in the world is compounded in our region by the absence of even basic data. So even something like 3(a) is not knowable without reliable estimates of Pay TV and IPTV penetration. Hopefully things will improve in the near future.
It's also up to each one of us to make a start by asking !
It's also up to each one of us to make a start by asking !
