AT A GLANCE

Tuning Channels: Analytics for a Media Leader

1© 2015 GoodData Corporation. All rights reserved.

Company: Discovery Communications, 5,500 employees

Customer Since: 2013

Solution: GoodData Platform

Use Case: Media Channel Performance Analytics

Favorite Metric: Video Views / Visit

Best Feature: Incredible Support & Service

Results:

► More than 40 unique data sources united with hundreds of feeds

► 20+ unique media channels and digital properties exposed to insights

► Report generation time reduced from 90% to 20%, freeing time for analysis

► Reduced cost to support stakeholders by nearly 35%

► 90 days implementation to launch of executive dashboards

G O O D DATA C U S TO M ER S TO R Y | DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS

Meeting the Needs of Over 20 ChannelsDiscovery Communications is the world’s #1 pay-TV programmer reaching 2.7 billion cumulative subscribers in more than 220 countries and territories. The Discovery family of worldwide television networks includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery and Science, and U.S. joint venture network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. They also manage a diversified online portfolio, Discovery Digital Networks, including websites and apps.

Discovery’s busy analytics team support no less than 20 internal groups with over 40 data sources, providing customized reports to meet their individual analytics needs, as well as executive level reports and dashboards to evaluate the overall performance of the portfolio. In 2013, when Param Ghangas, Director of Analytics, joined the group, they were managing the massive demand almost entirely manually, pulling reports and assembling data from individual Excel files. The process consumed a full 90% of their time, taking energy away from strategic analysis of the data. Although the prior team had previously begun an effort to implement a BI solution, a year later the project had failed to launch, leaving the team no better off, despite investing valuable resources in the project.

Param knew the current approach wasn’t sustainable. Given full authority to implement a solution, Param began the search for an analytics partner with the capabilities, scale, and expertise to unite their many disparate data sources into a single view, allowing her team to spend less time on reporting and more time delivering insights across platforms and channels. Said Param, “We needed a solution that could take the heavy lifting out of reporting, freeing our data analytics team to focus on creating strategic value.”

Discovering a Complete Analytics SolutionParam began the hunt for an end-to-end solution that could handle massive volumes of structured and unstructured data from siloed systems supporting their TV, digital and mobile media channels. With Omniture alone producing more than 140 data feeds, scalability was an important consideration. Technical support was also important to Param. She needed a partner that could serve as an extension of her small team, allowing them to cover a lot of ground quickly, so they could avoid spending another year on implementation.

Discovery quickly zeroed in on GoodData. Param explained, “GoodData was the only vendor with the scale, capabilities, and expertise to transform data analysis for a company of our size in less than 90 days.”

Exposing a Wide Audience to Deep InsightsThe GoodData team quickly leapt into action, working quickly to help Param reach the goal of delivering Phase 1, cross-channel executive dashboards, on an aggressive timeline. “Arming our execs with the insights they need to make smart decisions in a highly-competitive industry is critical to our business success,” explained Param, “We needed to implement a solution that would give them real-time access to the universe of data across our media channels. GoodData got us there—fast.”

“It takes a powerful engine to handle the data demands of a company of our size. GoodData went beyond traditional BI solutions, taking us from zero-to-insight in record time.”

Param GhangasDirector of Analytics–U.S. Digital, Discovery Communications

team@gooddata.com 415-200-0186 @gooddataGet in touch.

G O O D D ATA C U S T O M E R S T O R Y | D I S COV E R Y CO M M U N I C AT I O N S

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Discovery Communications DLTO Performance Dashboard.All data has been genericized.

Along the way, the GoodData team worked hand in hand with Discovery’s team to define requirements that would set the course for future phases of the rollout, ensuring that each additional data source added further context to the data already present in the system. This included extending the system to incorporate data from the vast amount of 3rd party partners that Discovery content is distributed on. Param explained, “We wanted a platform that could not only scale easily to other departments and functions, but also aid in telling the overall cross-platform story for our business. The end goal is really about developing a much better understanding of our complete digital business”.

Since the initial launch, Discovery has initiated two more phases, vastly increasing the number of sources feeding into the platform while expanding access to other teams, including programming, product, and digital distribution. In total, more than 100 people have access to GoodData, and are able to provide fast insight to teams spanning virtually every channel of the organization.

Param’s team has reduced time allocated to report production from 90% to 20%, reducing the cost to support stakeholders by nearly 35% and allowing them to dedicate more resources to drawing insights from the data. She affirmed, “GoodData isn’t a vendor to us, they’re a partner. We work together, as a team, to solve business problems.”

In addition to the work that Param’s team has done to launch a business intelligence system for the US digital stakeholders, the international team has followed suit and has successfully launched their own set of dashboards in under 3 months, empowering each region and local office to directly access digital performance data on digital video and social media performance. Said Ana Rodriguez, Research Manager in Digital Media “With GoodData, we finally have a global view into company performance.”