Business decisions are not based on data only but an individual's risk taking ability. Sebastian Wernicke explains this characteristic with examples of Netflix, Amazon and Google.

1. How to use data to make
a hit TV show
Sebastian Wernicke
at
TEDxCambridge

2. Let’s take a case..
Two people, at almost same time had an idea to start a
new TV show that can be successful.
One of them is Amazon’s Roy Price.
He used data analytics from ideation
to design of the show.
The other one is Netflix’s Ted
Sarandos.
He used a combination of analytics
and risk taking ability.

3. We live in world where all our choices,
preferences and actions can be
converted into data. Using this data,
companies take big decision to make
profits. Therefor, it is necessary to do it
right way.

4. Toddlers and Tiaras
Rating: <2
Breaking Bad,
Game of Thrones,
The Wire.
Rating: 9+
An average show
Rating: 7.4

5. Why
Amazon
failed?
▪Using data at each stage of
decision making can be dangerous
for the company.
▪Amazon hosted a competition to
design a TV series. Using this data,
they shortlisted top 8 ideas and run
a pilot program.

6. Why
Amazon
failed?
▪Amazon, keeping a close eye on
viewers and collected millions of
data points. Based on insights, they
created a new show “Alpha House”.
▪Turns out, it is just an average
show with rating of 7.5 and
objective of Amazon remained
unfulfilled.

7. Why
Netflix
succeeded
?
▪Inhouse data on video content
consumers.
▪Demographics, geographic, time
series data, behavioural, social,
device information all such data
points were collected by Netflix.
Hence they have a larger and
reliable source of data to work with.

8. Why
Netflix
succeeded
?
▪These datasets provided better
insights on viewer’s behaviour.
▪Successfully introduced their first
Netflix Original “House of Cards”.

9. What went
wrong for
Amazon?
▪Amazon’s dependency on data at each
point of critical decision, land them the
show “Alpha House”.

10. What
went right
for
Netflix?
▪They use data to first understand lots of
pieces about their audience that they
otherwise wouldn't have been able to
understand at that depth, but then the
decision to take all these bits and pieces and
put them back together again and make a
show like "House of Cards," that was
nowhere in the data.
▪Data analytics provides a tool to solve a
complex problem. Only human brain can
integrate all the disseminated information and
make right decisions.

11. Even the most data-savvy companies get it
wrong.
Yes, even Google gets it wrong sometimes.

12. Case of
Google
▪In 2009, Google announced that they were
able, with data analysis, to predict outbreaks
of influenza, the nasty kind of flu, by doing
data analysis on their Google searches.
▪Worked for years after years and then failed
with no possible explanation.

13. Leanin
g 1
Pattern
There is a sort of
pattern or kind of rule
about the
difference between
successful decision-
making with data and
unsuccessful
decision-making,
Brain+Data
Use data and brains
where they belong in
the process.

14. Leanin
g 2
Risk Taking ability
In the end, it's not
data, it's risks that will
land you on the right
end of the curve.

15. Thank you.
Prepared by: Abhishek Rana