HOMO UNIVERSANALYSIS

VRT Sandbox ?screens, coaches, tests, and funds start-ups in media tech or media content. Every year, via the STADIEM acceleration programme, we support international scale-ups or startups from various European countries. Together with VRT , they develop groundbreaking media technology or media content. In 2022, VRT Sandbox focused on four themes: synthetic voices, audience engagement, content management, and automatic subtitling.

VRT conducted interviews with each participating start-up from STADIEM to gain insight into their tool's capabilities and how VRT can utilize them. Today, we talked to Lesha Shaldenko, Ph.D , founder of the Ukrainian machine learning startup Wantent on how to use AI-content-analytics to measure audience engagement in a scalable remote way.

The content you Want(ent)

What is Wantent?

Lesha: "Wantent is an innovative platform that utilizes AI technology, cognitive behavioural psychology, neuromarketing, and sociology for audience engagement analysis. Our AI analyses the reactions of the test audience: their emotions and engagement while viewing video content. Through these data-driven insights, we provide recommendations to content creators."

How does audience engagement analysis work exactly?

Lesha: "For the research, we determine the parameters of the test audience (age, gender, etc.) and the factors of the content we want to measure (engagement, emotions, empathy, and attention). We then have the AI model analyse the recorded reaction videos. This model recognizes the reactions and gazes (eye-tracking) of different respondents. The AI model scores the reactions and provides analyses in PDF format, supplemented with graphs, tables, and heatmaps."

"The research process is simple and accessible for the respondents, and fast and scalable for the content creator. With this approach, we can provide data-driven insights to improve content or make informed decisions about potential investments."

HOMO UNIVERSANALYSIS

Can you describe the test case you have worked on with VRT?

Lesha: "The game show Homo Universalis (internationally known as '99 to beat') transitioned from short-format (5min) to long-format (50min). During this test project, we investigated how the structure of the episodes, the narrative development, and the games themselves were experienced by a test audience. The research involved 40 participants who watched the first, second, and tenth episodes of Homo Universalis, as well as a promo for the new season of the game show and six short episodes from the previous season, using the Wantent platform and a webcam."

"We usually work with short-form content such as trailers and advertisements. To successfully execute this project, we developed an adapted platform and created a module that splits long-format videos into scenes. Thanks to the collaboration with VRT's Research Department, we were able to determine the appropriate parameters for the test audience."

What have you learned from this case?

Lesha: "After a series of studies and evaluations of the audience reactions, we provided VRT with a scoring system and recommendations to enhance the engagement and effectiveness of the show."

"The recommendations include, among others, balancing the representation of players by age and gender, paying careful attention to the order of the games, reducing the number of commentaries during games which require high concentration, avoiding repetitive commentators during the same game, and reducing the use of blocks of three to four consecutive commentaries."

Lin Delcour, Deputy Network Manager of Eén and Canvas: "In our quest to transform Homo Universalis from a segment on 'Iedereen beroemd' into a standalone program, the insights from Wantent were valuable. Which candidates do viewers spontaneously empathize with? Who stands out? Which challenges increase attention? Seeing this mapped out in a data-driven manner inspired us as creators to engage in much smarter storytelling in the next season."

War, resilience, and international expansion

You applied for the STADIEM acceleration program via a video recorded in a bunker, a few weeks after the start of the war. Can you share how it was to lead a startup during the past year?

Lesha: "As a result of the war and the difficult situation in our country, our company faced enormous challenges. To prioritize the safety and well-being of our team members, we decided to suspend our operations, put negotiations with clients and investors on hold, and focus on providing necessary support and resources for our employees. Despite power outages and other challenges, our team found ways to adapt and continue our work without any negative consequences for the company. As CEO, I made it a priority to support my team and maintain communication with external partners to protect everything we had built over the years."

"Since resuming our work in May, we have focused on the development of our platform and participated in the early stage of STADIEM. Our experiences have led to post-traumatic growth for both myself and the company, and we have become more resilient and motivated than ever before. We have attracted business development managers in London and Los Angeles and participated in international fairs to expand our reach and connect with potential partners. Additionally, we are proud to have become a member of the Google for Startups program, which has greatly assisted us in our international efforts."

"This experience has made it particularly clear to us how important it is to be agile and flexible in our work practices, especially in the face of unexpected challenges. It has also demonstrated the resilience and resourcefulness of our team, as, despite the difficult circumstances, we were able to continue working and executing our projects."

STADIEM (Startup Driven Innovation in European Media) is a program that facilitates the development of next-generation media solutions by bringing together startups, scale-ups, investors and media organizations through its piloting and acceleration program.

Want to know more about our next-generation acceleration programme STADIEM? Take a look on?https://www.stadiem.eu.