How Foxtel is using data in a bid to turn its fortunes around
For many observers perusing the media landscape, Foxtel is a company with its back against the wall. So, what will be its salvation? Mumbrella’s Hannah Blackiston speaks to Foxtel’s chief data and analytics officer Jane Eastgate to find out.
Usually a feature starts with some setting of the scene, an intro on the person involved, or some background on why the topic is interesting. But the best way to introduce what Jane Eastgate does at Foxtel is with a single statistic.
Each week, Foxtel is able to pull 600m viewing events from its boxes and devices per subscriber. That’s a phenomenal amount of data, and it’s data that Foxtel alone has access to because of the way its technology works. It’s also data that Eastgate believes is completely pivotal to the company’s future.
Eastgate joined Foxtel in 2018 after spending 15 years at Coles, including almost eight years as the head of Flybuys analytics. Prior to that she was with PwC and AC Nielsen.
Jane Eastgate
Why simplify something when you can over complicate it? Foxtel’s issue isn’t about data, it’s about lack of value. It’s a very expensive service, it’s unreliable, glitchy streaming, and it’s chock full of ads which shouldn’t be there when a consumer is paying a premium for content – not for ads. Netflix gets it. Stan gets it. Prime gets it. Foxtel doesn’t get it. It’s clear that Foxtel has too many people whose minds are stuck in 1980s FTA TV when rivers of gold flowed due to lack of alternatives. That era is over, and a betting man would say Foxtel isn’t far behind it.
Amen.
600m viewing events each week. What does this mean? Why is this exciting for advertisers? I am an advertising buyer (media agency) and i don’t understand the point. Foxtel doesnt have the details on the subscribers or the viewers – all guess work.
Big numbers are just that until you can make it mean something for the buyers.
Your comment is spot on.
Saw Foxtel for the first time in years last week while on holidays and was shocked by the number of advertisements, I think it’s worse than Free to Air and people are paying for this.
Put simply Foxtel is way to expensive, unaffordable really.
If Foxtel really thinks its viewer data is what sets it apart as unique from its competitors then that just emphasises how stuck in the past it is. FTA might not have that data, but FTA isn’t what’s killing the Foxtel business model. Do you really think Netflix and Amazon don’t do analytics? In fact, Netflix and the other streaming services can do much more precise analysis because they push you to set up individual viewer profiles. Foxtel has no way to know who in the household is watching at a given time.
And if churn is down that’s only because they throw heavy discounts out to anyone who tries to cancel. Not a positive for the bottom line. The market simply won’t pay Foxtel’s outdated pricing anymore…
FOXTEL doesn’t have more or the same ads as FTA. Stop making stuff up
So wait…what exactly are Foxtel doing with ‘data and analytics’? The executive’s responses are a textbook example of saying a lot of words without divulging anything of actual semantic and substantive value. A key skill for climbing the corporate ladder, it seems.
So will Foxtel be using this data to deliver better programming and value to subscribers, (as Netflix has been doing for years)…..errrr no… it will use it to work closer with MCN to deliver more adverts to further alienate viewers. There in nutshell is the reason why Foxtel is on it’s way to a slow painful death.
“At Foxtel we are uniquely positioned, and it will only ever be that way because of the way the technology platforms work, to have Census informational viewing behaviour on the set top box as well as the OTT devices.”.
Fancy someone who heads up analytics not knowing the difference between tuning and viewing. Dear, oh dear, oh dear.
One Foxtel channel has more content in a month than what I get on Netflix in a year. I haven’t seen a new movie on Netflix in ages and I can stream over 1200 movies on Foxtel and yet you claim that I’m not getting value for money.. you’re right, Netflix is an absolute waste of money
Does anyone know why they’ve only ever been in about 30% of households? US/UK has a much higher cable share. Why wouldn’t Foxtel want a higher customer base?
There’s many reasons why they can’t get past the 30% ceiling, but the main one is they can’t get NRL or AFL exclusively. Sky was in a similar position, then they got exclusive EPL and the rest is history.
Foxtel will never get it.
Correct!
Why add value for a subscriber when you can fleece them for more money.
Spot on, Foxtel is priced as though they are running new top notch programms instead of repeats of repeats of repeats .