Accurate entertainment rights reporting isn’t just a good
practice. It’s good business—and it’s big business.
The difference in just one data field can mean thousands
upon thousands of dollars if it’s not properly processed. The question is,
“What can you do to insure the most precise rights reporting possible?”
That’s a very big question. Luckily, our expert—Quality
Assurance Manager Gordon McFarland—knows the ground rules of what to look for
in your rights reporting effort. The Five C’s Of Entertainment Rights Reporting. And here
they are:
Consistency is key.
The very definition of consistency is doing the something
the same way every time. And, when dealing with data that affects rights
reporting, it’s step one.
Example: umbrella titles for programing blocks like “Super
Adventure Saturday” or “Comedy Wednesday.”
If those are served up as new programs rather than
individual existing programs bundled or packaged for marketing and promotions
reasons? It's important to know that. And, how you want to treat the data.
“Naturally, networks have placed a big emphasis on their
programming blocks—and sometimes the info provided reflects that with
corresponding data that makes the new programming block an entirely new
program. Rather than an existing program bundled for promotional purposes,”
said Gordon.
“Our efforts are geared to reflect the intentions of the provider--so the new program is expressed as such,” he
said. “One program, one title, one ID. That’s consistency.”
“Complete” means
everything.
In an ideal world, the precise episode title or name of
program would be readily available. But since this isn’t necessarily a perfect
world, that isn’t always the case.
Sometimes, what would seem the most obvious and essential
data is simply not provided. As you might imagine, our expert has some thoughts
on how to turn missing data into complete data.
“Before running a rights report, our data analytics tell us
if anything is missing. We can then query the airing entity for that
information. Or, we can search extensively in our own database. Whatever we
have to do to make that data complete and accurate. Without it, the rights
report is just as incomplete as the data on that specific program without
title,” Gordon explained.
And complete goes even further. Especially when drilling
down into the elements of a program—like individual cartoons on a kid’s show or
individual sports features in an hour-long magazine format—to make sure that
even the individual elements get their just due in terms of rights reporting.
Gordon believes deeper data gets to the heart of what aired,
not just a vague program notion.
“We’re drilling down into data beyond just a
general idea of what’s airing right down to the individual distinct program
elements whenever possible,” he said.
Commitment. We don’t
dabble. We’re focused. Specialists.
There are a lot of data processing companies out there.
But only a precious few companies have chosen to focus on
rights reporting for the very specialized, very demanding, and very unique
needs of the entertainment industry. And that focus translates into a
commitment to learning, knowing, and understanding the innate requirements of
every report.
“Not only have we worked with the largest rights reporting
entities, we’ve formed close relationships and associations that allow us
insight into their own methodologies and practices. We understand them, so we
understand their needs. And, we’re therefore able to create reports more
impactful to their desired goals. In entertainment rights reporting, you really
need to talk to companies versed in the entertainment business,” said Gordon.
Constant attention to
the data.
When you’re focused on the data, you’re constantly
monitoring it. Checking it. Getting to know it.
So when something changes, or seems amiss—you spot it in
advance of the folks who are supplying that reporting data. Naturally, Gordon
has an example to back up this guideline.
“If, for example, our reporting data suddenly shows a drop
in reporting data for a particular program that seems out of the norm—we’ll
look into it. In the past, we’ve actually found that a specific program had two
different program IDs at the network level. That totally skewed the report, of
course, and we were able to inform that network of their own ID issue,” Gordon
reported.
“So, not only did we insure the accuracy of the report, we helped the
network with the own ID information. In this way, we can help as a second form
of verification for rights reporting organizations."
Contact FYI.
If you’ve followed all the C’s up to now then this step
should be a natural.
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