{"id":106737,"date":"2018-08-14T10:31:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T14:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvibes.com\/?p=106737"},"modified":"2018-08-14T10:31:31","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T14:31:31","slug":"wattpad-is-democratizing-entertainment-with-data-driven-content","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/wattpad-is-democratizing-entertainment-with-data-driven-content","title":{"rendered":"Wattpad is Democratizing Entertainment with Data-Driven Content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTechnology and entertainment have never been closer together.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0a phrase you might hear wandering through the Toronto offices of Wattpad<\/a>. The company created a free online community dedicated to the writing, reading and sharing of stories\u2014though executives are quick to point out they are not a publishing company, a distinction that becomes\u00a0clearer with each new partnership they forge.<\/p>\n

Storytellers have been sharing\u00a0their tales online for as long as the internet has been around, but an argument can be made that\u00a0Wattpad has cornered the market. Over 65 million unique users are registered on the site, with four million writers churning out over 500,000 chapters of content a day.\u00a0Wattpadders, as they’re called, are typically on the younger side, which means the content itself also skews younger as well.<\/p>\n

The idea of tech and entertainment under one roof is not new. Netflix, Apple and Amazon are all tech-first companies that also entertain users with either original content or licensed programming. The difference is that those companies view each other as competitors, only working together if they can somehow use that\u00a0temporary friendship to edge past another\u00a0horse in the race.<\/p>\n

Wattpad isn\u2019t here to compete. Their sector dominance and $110 million-plus in funding proves\u00a0that they are way beyond any relevant competitors. The next step in Wattpad’s digital storytelling domination is helping everyone else win, starting with their users.<\/p>\n

Studio Days<\/h4>\n

Aron Levitz is the head of Wattpad Studios, a division that debuted in 2016 with the goal of operating\u00a0as a multi-channel network. Wattpad Studios works with the mainstream entertainment industry to co-produce Wattpad stories that can then be transferred to new mediums. In a nutshell, traditional media players can go through Wattpad Studios to access new stories, writers and ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take unique stories with built-in audiences, the data that helps us discover and analyze those audiences will give the TV, book, streaming and film industries a better chance at success,\u201c says Levitz.<\/p>\n

The mantra behind Wattpad Studios, as Levitz describes, is to take content from their platform and bring it to a world where 80 per cent of TV shows are\u00a0cancelled after one year, and the vast majority of books fail to earn more than their advances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could change those percentages by a little bit, that’s hundreds of millions back into these industries,\u201d he says. \u201cThis can really change the conversation in an entertainment world that’s being disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A look at Wattpad’s Toronto office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Combining\u00a0Wattpad’s readily available content with traditional production models is a natural progression for the Toronto company. The platform now has\u00a0565 million original stories, giving production houses a large bank of material to unearth a potential megahit. The question is, “where do you start”?<\/p>\n

Finding the right stories to bring to outside partners can\u00a0be a challenge, as anyone who has suffered through writer’s block can attest to, but Wattpad has an answer to that question.\u00a0The company may\u00a0describe itself as\u00a0entertainment-first, but the AI\u00a0experts and developers\u00a0building out\u00a0Wattpad’s backend prove that tech\u00a0drives the decision-making process.<\/p>\n

Data-Driven Validation<\/h4>\n

Wattpad was founded in 2006, and Studios came along a decade later. But it was halfway between then that Allen Lau, Wattpad\u2019s CEO and co-founder, knew something like Studios was not only feasible but the direction the company had to move towards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized that when it comes to entertainment\u2014rather than publishing, reading or writing\u2014what’s the origin of a hit TV show or movie?\u201d Lau asks. \u201cIt\u2019s always a great story. We had that in our product already, but at that point, we weren’t ready to take it to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"wattpad\"
A library of titles to read on Wattpad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When that first light bulb idea for Wattpad Studios came in 2011, the company only had around eight million monthly users. Impressive, yes, but Lau knew he had to scale and acquire more data before it could activate and become a reality. The company was growing exponentially, but it would be three years until a real opportunity to see how Wattpad could leverage its data and content with outside partnerships would come. The unique thing is that Wattpad\u2019s best chance to show its production skills did not come from Hollywood, or anywhere else in North America\u2014it came from the densely populated Philippines.<\/p>\n

The Southeast Asian country\u00a0boasts an incredibly young average age of around 23-years-old for its citizens, but a lot of the TV shows in the country are geared towards its aging population in the form of dry and dense telenovelas. Wattpad figured the market would be a great place to see if the (at this point, still in development) Studios division could make an impact. It made sense, too, as in 2014, the Philippines had the second-most Wattpad users behind the U.S.\u2014five million in total.<\/p>\n

TV5, a third-place Philippines\u00a0network in a three-horse race was looking for anything to help catapult it back into the conversation. It was the first company to work with Wattpad and test exactly how this entertainment company could branch out beyond online stories. The solution to TV5\u2019s woes came from Wattpad\u2019s immense data trove they had been compiling since its launch.<\/p>\n

Wattpad\u2019s \u201cdata-driven format,\u201d as Levitz calls it, relies on the billion points of data the company ingests every single day. After a quick scan, a single question emerged: in such a young country like the Philippines, why are TV stations playing programs catered to old folks?<\/p>\n

Lau and Levitz looked at the top 20-performing stories on Wattpad in the Philippines and chose one to turn into a 22-minute show. It was called My Tag Boyfriend<\/em>\u00a0(the full episode can be seen\u00a0below on YouTube) and had 15.2 million reads on the site. The next week, they would do the same thing with a new show made from a top-rated story. It made sense, but in a country of over 100 million, no outside traditional entertainment companies had even thought to come in and take advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHollywood may look at the Philippines differently\u2014we don\u2019t,\u201d says Levitz.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 2014, Wattpad Presents<\/em> debuted on TV5. The network jumped up 30 points in ratings, and 250 episodes later, the show remains as one of the most successful youth programs in the history of the country. This was enough validation to get Wattpad Studios going.<\/p>\n