TV Globo's New Approach to Big Data takes the IBC Conference Prize

London, UK, August 2, 2017--In its 50th year, the IBC Conference is still built around the technical papers programme, with the most influential paper in the programme winning the IBC Conference Prize. This year, the award goes to Marcelo Souza and his colleagues Joāo Castellani, Daniel Monteiro and Carlos Octávio Quieroz from Brazilian broadcaster, TV Globo, for their paper entitled ‘Big data for data journalism, enhanced business analytics and video recommendation at Globo’.

TV Globo has moved to bring data analytics into the core operations of the business and revolutionising their working practices. The paper details three ways in which the company is processing massive amounts of data to achieve its business goals. Using data hosting and processing in the Amazon Web Services cloud, the solutions demonstrate real operational advantages and introducing new skills into operational areas to manage the analytics.

All papers proposed for the technical section of the IBC Conference are subject to vigorous peer review by a team of experts led by Dr Paul Entwistle. All the papers which are selected for presentation represent original thinking on relevant technologies. Of these, the most significant and engaging is selected to win the Conference Prize.

“A lot of people are talking about the potential of big data applications in the media industry, but TV Globo has actually done it, and is reaping real benefits from it,” said Dr Paul Entwistle. “What makes the paper particularly interesting is that the authors talk about three very different applications: using public data to drive the news agenda; using business analytics to understand audiences; and using machine learning to recommend content to consumers.

“We were also impressed with the readiness to share extensive details of what they have done,” Entwistle added. “There is a great deal of information and experience in this paper, backed up with very extensive references – exactly what we hope for in our technical programme.”

On behalf of his colleagues, Marcelo Souza said: “We are very proud to be awarded the prestigious IBC2017 Conference Prize, considering the importance of IBC as a forum for the media and broadcast industries. Big data applications are not just a technology matter – they bring us great potential when combined with content and business needs.

“It definitely shows that we are on the right path with digital transformation at TV Globo,” Souza added.

The TV Globo paper will be presented in the conference as part of a session on artificial intelligence, on Saturday 16 September at 08.30. The award will be handed over as part of the IBC Awards Ceremony at 18.30 on Sunday 17 September, in the Auditorium. This entertaining and lively show is free to all IBC visitors.

For more information on the IBC go to www.ibc.org.