Analytics to keep love life fresh and fun!

Analytics takes a foray into the relationships management domain with a newly launched niche social network – The Ice Break. This online service helps users track, analyze, and enjoy their romantic relationships. Co-founded and seed-funded by YouTube’s first UI Designer, Christina Brodbeck; and former head of YouTube Mobile Dwipal Desai, TheIceBreak is designed to stay with users through all stages of their relationships, whether they are single or not. Brodbeck says that “TheIceBreak will fill a gap that is taking place in the online dating space, which is fraught with high membership churn and low return engagement”.

The site allows for status updates, asks users to rate how satisfied they are with their partner in a variety of areas and then serves up activities based on the answers given, such as answering “Icebreaker Questions” (“What is your ideal Friday night?”) and “Capturing Moments” to send to your partner. Activities like these garner you “Date Night Coins,” which can be used for deals in later iterations of the site. TheIcebreak features an analytics dashboard that shows the user’s happiness over time, and how it compares to the relative bliss of other couples. For those of you who feel that the idea of measuring one’s happiness against that of others goes against the advice of any therapist, note that they do have a fairly experienced clinical psychologist on the team.

A lot of behavioral science has gone into the development of algorithms to calculate couple compatibility and happiness quotient in relationships. This company’s business model will revolve around

• Redeeming Date Night coins for movie nights, etc. The company is currently working on creating these partnerships
• Providing gifting services on occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. They can help your partner find you a gift and you can even put in your sizes
• Rolling out subscription based relationship counseling solutions

Meanwhile, "Whether you're newly together, engaged, married or somewhere in between”, visit TheIceBreak to “keep your love life fresh and fun."

 

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Fantasy Football and Analytics?

Millions of NFL fans have completed their fantasy football drafts by now. The NFL schedule was set months ago and the season kicks off on Thursday night, with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the New Orleans Saints in prime time.

For many fantasy fans, the player-drafting strategies start with the best intentions: I'll do my research, check out some pro football websites and make a list of the players I really want. However, when draft day finally happens and they've neglected to do any research, that "strategy" quickly degrades into player selections based on "gut feelings" that may or may not correspond to actual statistical evidence, current news or historical player trends. (The five beers don't help matters, either.)

IBM's Hetal Thaker bucks a couple of common stereotypes regarding football viewership and fantasy football leagues and uses predictive analytics to draft her way to success. She models qualitative and quantitative information to predict the number of touchdowns a receiver is going to get or number of total yards that a quarterback is going to throw.

In an interview with CIO, she shares advice on analyzing data on running backs and running your business.

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Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Netflix prize awarded, Sequel announced

The Netflix Prize was an open computing challenge for the best algorithm to recommend movies to subscribers. The winning team, Bellkor, has improved Netflix’s own cinematch algorithm by 10.05% and will be awarded $1M for their success.

Clearing the hurdle wasn’t easy. Thousands of teams from more than 100 nations tackled the problem for more than three years, sharing their results and algorithms along the way. CEO Reed Hastings said in an interview “You look at the cumulative hours and you’re getting Ph.D.’s for a dollar an hour”. The contest is an example of Prize economics, where competitive incentives are offered as an alternative to in-house research and development. This was a tremendous research bargain for Netflix.

Netflix analyzes customers’ choices and ratings on the movies they have rented and recommends movies in a way that optimizes both the customer’s taste and inventory conditions. Automated recommendation algorithms are seen as a key competitive edge in e-commerce, allowing retailers to guess the types of products and services customers are seeking by looking at their past behavior. For Netflix, a 10% improvement on its algorithms could help move substantially higher numbers of movies and increase customer satisfaction, with a direct boost to profits.

The company’s analytical orientation has already led to a high level of success and growth. Netflix announced it would run a second competition, with shorter time spans of 6 months and 18 months to prize awarding. The new challenge will use demographic data rather than previous ratings as data to base predictions on.

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Netflix is the world's largest online movie rental service, with more than 11 million subscribers. It has revolutionized the way people rent movies - by bringing the movies directly to them.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Advanced Analytics meets Shakespeare

In recent years, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) – one of UK’s most respected theatrical companies – has adopted some of the best practices around audience analytics, segmentation and targeted marketing. In order to maintain its worldwide reach, RSC is looking to expand its audience base, while retaining its core, loyal patrons.

Theatre companies, like any other business, rely on customer loyalty to achieve long-term success. They have similar need to boost customer loyalty, acquire new customers, retain existing customers, sell more to all customers and establish a premium for their brand just like any other high-performance business.

The company used the analytics software, KXEN, to segment audiences and target marketing programs through the creation of an audience database. The software allowed the company to examine specific audience segments and identify patterns of attendance behavior. The result is a 50% rise in ticket sales at its Stratford-upon-Avon theatres, a 70% rise in regular attendances to shows and earlier sell-outs in London.

According to Mary Butlin, head of market planning at RSC, “the campaign planning [was] more fact based, and it was easier to predict likely response even in London, which is notoriously difficult”. RSC has successfully deployed marketing analytics to segment their database to identify and engage different ticketing behavior. This will help RSC secure its financial future and status as a theatrical force in the 21st century.

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Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is one of UK’s most respected and celebrated theatrical companies. As a company dedicated to keeping alive the spirit of William Shakespeare, while also staging classics and modern works, the RSC operates on an impressive scale. Over the past decade, it has staged 171 new productions, delivered 19,000 performances, sold 11 million tickets, and traveled from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace) to 150 towns and cities around the world.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.