Challenge
The client used Upsiide to test different British TV programs to find out which ones should stay on the channel.
Solution
We worked with the client to test TV program ideas.
Impact
Results revealed that the most popular program was, in fact, the strongest performing, so no changes were made to the channel’s programming.
“The main thing that attracted me was not just the fact that people can swipe left and right to choose ideas. I liked that Upsiide would then ask them which of the liked ideas they prefer most. That calculation of the interest and commitment proved to be very useful when I started working on a client’s project.”
Inquisi is a full service research agency specialising in TV with a fast growing bespoke panel of over 90,000 UK viewers.
How do TV providers attempt to predict what you’ll want to watch? How do they choose which shows will keep people coming back? And how do they know which programs they should get rid of for good?
These are some of the questions that Dean Richardson, TV Research Director and Founder of Inquisi Research, helps answer for his clients. Having worked in TV research on the client-side for many years, Dean decided to create his own company to give TV professionals a way to test ideas using quantitative and qualitative research.
Today, Inquisi is a research agency that’s helped some of the most well-loved British TV providers make better decisions about what to air.
Dean approached Upsiide to help him with one of his projects. We sat down with him to learn why he wanted to use Upsiide, how the platform helped him and his client, and how he plans to use this data going forwards.
On the lookout for new methodologies
While working with a client that wanted to integrate different research methodologies that they could implement in their project, Dean found that the client wanted to leverage mobile swiping (think dating apps, but for research) to screen ideas. And that’s how Upsiide caught his attention.Â
It was a match made in heaven. And so, the work began.
The Challenge and Solution
Dean’s client was an established UK-based TV channel that specializes in classic comedy programs. Despite having had high viewing levels for 20-30 years, the channel worried that people thought they didn’t provide enough variety in their programming.
“Whenever we researched with that client in the past we found that, despite their attempts to introduce new and exclusive content, viewers continued to associate the channel with the same few programmes and in particular one old British comedy show that has aired on the channel for many years. Even though the show had good viewing numbers, respondents would often criticize the channel for lacking variety due to its ongoing prominence in their schedule.”
Dean turned to Upsiide to see what would happen when viewers were given the choice of the most regularly shown comedies alongside a range of lesser shown new and old comedies that the channel has been considering adding. After showing about 50 existing and potential shows in the survey, Dean and his client found a very clear winner in the data, that same old show that had been attracting viewers for decades.
“The main insight I got from the project is that I had to listen to what people weren’t saying as opposed to what they were saying. They were saying that they wanted more variety on the channel but we got confirmation that when forced to choose, they actually opt for the same old classics. Upsiide proved that it would be risky for the channel to make a big revamp in the quest for improving variety.”
The results on Upsiide confirmed Dean’s assumptions and helped him make a recommendation: don’t radically overhaul the schedule.
During the process, Dean noted how intuitive the Upsiide interface is, in particular calling out Upsiide’s ability to visualize the results in useful ways. The quadrant chart view helped him see where the shows stand in relation to each other, clearly laying out which shows performed best and which ones needed some re-thinking. Dean also mentioned that Upsiide’s Support and Customer Experience team have been helpful throughout the process, making it easier to use the platform.
The Outcome
We asked Dean if Upsiide would likely be leveraged for further research with clients, and he was clear that he’ll look to use it with other clients.
“I think you sometimes feel nervous when you shift to a completely different methodology or a new tool. But once you get the hang of it, you want to keep using that tool at every step of the process.
Upsiide has become part of my research stack because I can use it to quickly check my hypotheses with high quality data. I have high trust in the outputs, which means I feel more confident in my further decisions.”
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Whether you’ve got a specific project in mind, or you’d like to learn more – we’d love to hear from you.