Over-the-top content providers can use metadata from social media and other sources to help grow their audiences by helping them find larger groups of like-minded potential viewers, according to a panel discussion here.
Pure Flix Digital CEO Greg Gudorf said the maker of faith-based content used data gleaned from its Facebook page to help drive viewers to its over-the-top service. The company has millions of Facebook followers from movies such as God Is Not Dead, he said.
“Realizing that was our customer allowed us to use digital media very strongly from the start to build that audience,” Gudorf said. “Once you do that, you have to pay attention to where the conversations with those consumers go. And you find out, in our case as a faith-and family-friendly service, you find out the churches they are involved in.
“You hear that coming through the conversations and you can reach out to that,” he said. “It’s a basic blocking and tackling of marketing more than anything else, but it’s got to be done and it’s got to be done at a consumer level.”
The digital content revolution has increased the level and specificity of data available on viewers exponentially. Olympusat Holdings CEO Tom Mohler said, depending on the platform, “we can tell you exactly who the person is who is watching and what device they’re watching on.”
With a sea of data available at content providers’ fingertips, the dilemma is in figuring out exactly what information you want and how to turn it into something actionable, Gudorf said.
“You have to know the right data elements to chase after,” he said.
