Under a new deal described as a first in the Irish market, national broadcaster RTÉ has struck an agreement with online streaming TV provider Aertv to access data on consumer behaviour of RTÉ viewers watching RTÉ programmes on the Aertv site.
Traditionally, broadcasters have relied on metrics such as Nielsen ratings to understand their audience, but with the change of consumer behaviour and the increased of use of mobile devices, access to online data offers a wide range of information to broadcasters.
In recent months, the State broadcaster revealed that as part of its strategy to preserve the memories of a nation in digital form, it is to collaborate with SFI’s recently announced mega CSET the Insight Centre to employ big data and the semantic web to make hundreds of thousands of hours of audio and video content available at the touch of a button.
Aertv, which is owned by Magnet Broadband, recently announced viewing figures which showed an increase of more than 140pc in traffic on its service for the first half of 2013, compared to the same period last year.
More than 50m minutes have been consumed on Aertv since January of this year, with more than 500,000 streams and 225,000 unique visits per month.
The company has an audience in more than 159 countries.
While RTÉ cannot be streamed internationally in the current format due to tight licensing restrictions, Aertv director Philippe Brodeur said Aertv can create new channels online using proprietary technology and this is something RTÉ could avail of in the future.
“This agreement opens up the prospect of collaboration on further projects in the future,” Brodeur said. “Aertv has, since its establishment, built partnerships in developing original content.
“The Gathering Channel is a collaboration with Tourism Ireland to stream a ‘linear channel’ to a global audience showing the best that Irish culture has to offer. Examples of this include the Rose of Tralee Parade, and the ‘Peoples Parade’ during the St. Patrick’s Day Festival, watched in over 150 countries. A similar collaboration with the national broadcaster could, for example, help exploit RTÉ’s significant archive to a global audience. The opportunities are virtually endless,” he said.
Digital TV image via Shutterstock
