Return Path Data (RPD) service is used to generate passive data. In India, it has been used by Tata Sky. There are no meters installed and people watch TV as they normally would. It allows a large sample size, and drills down into data and map that data to the subscriber base. They are able to look at viewing data by subscription packages, core subscribers etc. It s useful in subscriber management and marketing. It helps carriage negotiations, content acquisition, selling of ads, revenue generation from platforms.
Month: June 2017
Digital Audience Measurement
A new meter is attached to broadband wifi routers in homes. It tracks the content that passes through the router. The meter identifies the content being viewed, and tracks it. There is virtual meter that could be deployed on smart phones, tablets and other devices. It is useful to track viewing and for sampling.
It is also necessary to employ data scientists to create and combine a robust data set for the industry to use.
There are watermarking technologies which are embedded in the broadcast signal and meters to pick up viewing.
TV Still Leads
There is so much talk about digital viewing and its growth. Is it eating significantly the TV viewing? The answer is, no. There has been a great rise in OTT platforms such as NetFlix, Amazon Prime, VOOT etc. They do get subscribers. Still it is early days. These services are additive rather than cannibalistic to TV viewing.
Data from the US and UK shows that there is still a large amount of viewing on a TV set — 92 per cent of all viewing takes place on a TV set (as per the data from the US). Although viewing behaviour is changing, the traditional way of accessing the content is still very resilient. There has been no decrease in TV advertising. Total TV viewing is still pretty stable. TV is not dead. Yes, there is fragmentation.
Mapping for Autonomous Cars
There is a race to develop autonomous cars. These cars can run only on the basis of guidance from the machine-readable maps known as splines or digital rails. The market for maps for autonomous cars will grow in value from around 92.2 billion in 2020 to $ 24.5 billion by 2050. As Google is a dominant player in consumer mapping, it has a competitive advantage in this emerging field. It has an autobnomous car-spin-off called Waymo.
There are three key imput in digital mapping. First is the information about roads and buildings. These are commoditised maps. In such maps OpenStreetMap which is a British open data repository and OpenAddresses, its cousin, are widely used. Many mapping busineses source the data from OSM. Second key input is the close up detail of the streets. Here a machine learning technology called deep learning is used to scan the imagery — as many as 80 billion photos. This identifies house numbers and names of streets. Such imagery is being captured since 2007. The photos generated are in Streetview. Google and Mpillary, a Swedish start up collect street photos. Besides the autonomous cars will use laser scanners and radar to add to these images. Third, smart phone users using Google map as they move around provide large quantities of real-time GPS location data.
ML Opportunities
In 2017, a learning computer is more than a reality. Machine Learning (ML) is a way of training an algorithm to learn without being explicitly programmed. It involves feeding huge amount of data into the algorithm and then allowing it to process that and learn. An example would be a translation algoritham that is fed a lot of translated material between sets of languages to help it improve.
Artificial Intelligence aims at creating machines that perform tasks that humans do. These could be general or narrow–meaning all human abilities or specific ones. AI can be achieved with or without machine learning.
These concepts have been around since 1940s and 1950s.The additional factor is the availability is huge amount of data. That makes a difference. Large organisations sit on data. The cloud is bringing computing power and ML is creating additional intelligence.
ML is helping oncologists through huge amount of cancer cases and suggest preferred treatment. Watson of IBM is an example. Entire cancer research can run into 50 million pages and 40,000 papers are added every year. It is impossible for a doctor to go through such huge data. ML is a great application to use in cancer treatment.The project has been implemented in Manipal Hospitals. It is an early adopter, possibly second or third hospital globally.
Arya.ai is working on creating an ML application for selling securities without letting the prices crash.
Algorthmic trading has been around for a while and brokers with proprietery trading arms use, it to gain a few seconds advantge. Research have focuses on whether an ML layer can be built on top of the algo. Can machines be allowed to alter the trading algorithm on their own? What will this mean to securities markets?
Google, Intel, Microsoft and Amazon have been developing off-the-shelf ML modules. The work is based on 1980s technologies of Jawa and Python. They have built their layers on top of that. Google has developed TensorFlow, Amazon AWS Machine Learning, Microsoft Azure Platform. In future, these modules will be available for non-experts too.
ML is useful in retail, transportation and financial services.
A radiologists job may become redundant in a few years. A radiologist interprets images. Millions of images (x-rays, CT scans, sonograms) can be fed and their interpretations too into an ML algorithm. A machine may give in due course a better interpretation than a human radiologist.
An ML application can sift through loan applications. There are bots to interface with the customers.
In India, there are hundreds of start ups using ML and AI technologies.
Deep Learning is a branch of machine learning that tries to mimic the structure of the human brain. Layers are created within the algorithm which pick specific parts of the subject to learn.
ScoopWhoop
It began as a viral content generating and sharing website. It then developed as a news portal, and a channel for sharing social concerns. To begin with, they offered listicles and video curation. They created fun content. Later after receiving funding, they built a small news team. They started creating content, rather than aggregating it. The number of visitors increased — 30 million visitors a month and 80-90 million video views a month. They are investing heavily in technology and distribution.
Initially, ScoopWhoop was a Buzzfeed clone. It is easy to create content but difficult to build business.
They are producing 300 videos in short format, long fprmat, fiction and non-fiction. They do documentaries. They are looking at food show, travel show and crime show on the Internet.
The revenue split is about 75 p.c. native content and 25 p.c. display. They are getting into programmatic.
Half or more than half the traffic come from Facebook. They are trying to improve direct traffic.
Blockchain Technology
Three private banks in India. ICICI, yes and Axix have already instituted blockchain technology for domestic financing, intra-bank transactions and cross-border remittances.Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, RBI’s research arm has released a White Paper saying that this technology has matured enough to be considered for various uses.
As we know blockchain or distributed-ledger technology is more like a shared Google spreadsheet. All transactions are visible to anybody on the platform, but only those with requisite authorisation can make changes to it. It can be used to institute contracts and making payment. The major drawback is the inability to interlink different players.
It is advisable that instead of individual banks creating its own set of systems, there would be one central inter-connected chain in which every bank would adhere to for inter-bank transactions.Blockchain can also be used in trade finance, cross-border payments, capital markets, loan syndication and suppy chain financing.
In non-bank space, blockchain can be used in the customs department and land registry.
OTT Opportunities
Telcos and DTH operators have opportunities into the OTT space after the spread of smart phones and broadband. There is an alliance between Relience Jio and HotStar, Videocon DTH is launching a Smart Connect HD Set Top Box (STB) integrated with NetFlix, Airtel Digital TV is launching an integrated Android STB. DTH operators now allow streaming from OTT services directly on a TV screen too. MSOs are also looking at going with the flow. Hathway will soon have its OTT offering. Den has Den TV+.
India’s OTT market consists of more than 30 OTT video service providers. The ecosystem comprises original content producers, content right hoders, broadcasters, cable TV operators, DTH service providers, international OTT content aggregators and distributors and telecom operators.
Consumers want to consume content through the day, where and when they like. Today users are not only consumers but also content creators, curators and distributors. Though local content has its place, there is the globalisation of content. Any consumer from home can create a video that may resonate with the audience. In TV, there are distribution walls. New formats such as ephmeral video via messaging emerge. There is live video. There would be a marriage of commerce and content, say live video could be monetised to sell physical goods.
Customer acquisition is expensive for OTT players. Integrating with telecom and DTH operators helps to reduce costs. It also brings additional revenue for operators.
Third Party Measurement
As a society, we are changing. Previously, we lifted our papers and magazines physically and loved to watch traditional TV. Younger generation has changed its media consumption habits. It is consuming media on its phone. They do not read news papers or watch TV. Advertising follows people’s behaviour. It follows what people do. A massive number of people has gone digital. Advertising catalyses this digital exchange. It fuels and funds it.
In digital space, there are ads, but some are just mediocre. There is a choice in digital — consumers may block the ads by using ad blocker. Advertisers thus have to raise the bar on the advertising they offer. On some sites, they intrude and one feels like getting out of there. Thus, we have to find a bettter way to approach the consumers.
In digital space, measurement has to be independint and run by a third party. Historically, it is done by companies such as is Google which also has a media presence. Though in India TV penetration is 60 per cent, there are 300 million smart phones. If the young consumers are to be reached, there is no alternative to mobile advertising. Buying digital video is not the same thing as buying TV time. Once you realise this, the media decisions are different.
Tamasha
We have referred to Sandesh Bhandare’s book ‘ Tamasha: E K Rangadi Gammat.‘ It has left out the Songadya tamasha of Khandesh (the districts of Jalgaon and Dhulia). In West Khandesh which is adjacent to Gujarat, there tamasha in the Bhil language. Elsewhere in Khandesh, they use Gujarati, Himdi, Marathi and Ahirani language. The Bhika Mama tamasha and Raysingh Mama Songadya are very famous tamasha troupes. Between Bhadrapad and Chaitra months, Raysingh Mama performs in about 185 to 190 villages. They charge Rs.12000 to Rs.15000 per show. After deducting the expenses, they distribute the money among themselves. The Khandesh troupe consists of 4 artistes who enact women, 2 singers, one harmonium player, two dholkiwalla, two junior songadyas and one main Songadya. The team has 12 members.
It starts with gan. Then comes tribal songs called rudali. The Bhil language expressions are translated in Marathi. At midnight, the main artiste — songadya — who mocks about the social situation enters. It is called vag. The topics handled are prohibition, love marriage, step mother, demonetization etc. It is farcical. In Western Maharashtra, the tamasha audience starts to leave when vag starts. In Khandesh, it is the main attraction.