Editorial analytics to increase the impact of your stories
Data can make the difference by better informing editorial teams about user needs. However, with today’s amount of available data, it can be challenging for storytellers to find the right actionable metrics that can help them increase the relevance and impact of the content they create. Enter smartocto: with its smart editorial analytics system, it aims to optimise your decision-making process based on the right data.
Smartocto, but how smart?
Smartocto aims to help storytellers increase the impact of their work by focusing on the right channel, the right time and the right format. Smartocto positions itself as a decision-making company as it helps content creators make valuable decisions based on the captured data. Its editorial platform is able to collect 4 different types of data: historic, realtime, predictive and prescriptive data. Via the prescriptive data, smartocto translates the sometimes complex flux of data into tips and tricks for media organisations to strengthen the relevance of a story. These tips and tricks are delivered to content creators via accessible and comprehensible notifications. In addition to these notifications, smartocto is also able to make predictions such as estimating the amount of likes a news story will get.
How it all started
The founders of smartocto, Rutger Verhoeven and Erik van Heeswijk, worked together at the public broadcaster in the Netherlands. During their time at this media organisation, they envisioned a platform that could help newsrooms handle the overload of available data. As a result, they had a brainstorm on the necessary aspects of such a platform. And so, the idea was born.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Europe, other innovators (Dragutin Miletic, Ilija Susa and Dejan Nikolic) had a similar idea. Unlike smartocto, the company ContentInsights focused more on historical analyses. Thanks to these differences, the two companies were able to complement each other well, and the integration of both technologies in one platform led to the most elaborate system for data analysis.
Collaboration with Sandbox Hub
Like a lot of start-ups, smartocto experienced some difficulties to actually launch their idea. They joined VRT Sandbox, a member of the Sandbox Hub, as one of its first start-ups and were able to successfully develop their product. Together with the Flemish public broadcaster, they built the first prototype of the platform for the sports department. As such, the sports editorial team received notifications to help them make the right decisions based on data. In return, the editors gave valuable feedback to optimize these notifications.This fruitful collaboration had an impact on both the workflows of the editorial team as well as of the founders.
To smartocto, the greatest advantage of being part of the international network of the Sandbox Hub is that it helps them directly meet the right people within a media organisation. Getting attention from media organisations is necessary for a start-up like smartocto and this is where the Hub plays a key role. For example by suggesting international events that provide compelling opportunities like NewsXchange in Edinburgh.
Challenges faced during a global pandemic
During the pandemic, the biggest challenge was sales. “When a country is in chaos, sales are challenging because everyone is careful with their money”, explains Erik. Despite the hard financial year, smartocto also considered the long-term advantages. As everyone had to stay home, people noticed the necessity of digitalisation, and the value of a data company like smartocto.
New opportunities? During this chaotic year, smartocto hosted a lot of webinars that increased their international visibility a lot. To them, these webinars were a great opportunity to get in touch with a lot of like-minded people.
What’s next for smartocto
Smartocto is now one of the prominent and innovative companies in Europe [1] and hopes to strengthen and grow its position within 5 years. How do they aim to achieve this? First, they are always looking for new investors that can help the platform grow. Second, a strong international network is and will always remain the backbone for their leadership position. This is why they are always keen on meeting new people that believe in their vision. Third, they hope to build their portfolio with more public media organisations.
References:
