Media's blockbuster business tool: big data

EXECUTIVES in nearly every industry are looking for ways to reap value from analytics, but media companies may have better opportunities than most. Every song listened to, every minute of video viewed, every online page that is clicked contributes to the mountains of data that tell them what audiences want.

Media companies don't necessarily need more data, but they do need to get better at sifting through it and blending together the multiple streams of data - some from new digital sources, others from reliable analog ones - to understand what their audiences like, so they can deliver more of it.

Unfortunately, our conversations with media executives and our analysis of the industry's analytic skills suggest that most traditional media companies aren't very good at understanding data. Their pure digital competitors - technology-based media companies like Facebook, Google and Netflix - are best of breed. But to keep up with these new media leaders, the old guard must learn new skills and seize the opportunities presented by all this data.