Q: What's one broadcaster's most important IT investment in years?

Clue: Know thyself...

Published: 1 July 2009 14:47 GMT by Natasha Lomas

Tags: cnn, business intelligence

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The shift to digital and on-demand content has not been kind to traditional media business models. So how can media companies ensure their survival in this ever so demanding digital world?

Business intelligence could well be the order of the day.

Casey Harwood, senior VP of Turner Broadcasting Europe, owner of CNN International, told Ericsson's Business Innovation Forum in Stockholm last week: "[Business intelligence software is] the most important investment we've made in the last two years… The internet has forced us to think who and how we reach people."

"The fact of the matter is the audience is beyond fragmentation - it's splintering. And we need strategy, structure and business models that not only support that new world but also take advantage of it," he added.

Harwood likened the challenges of digital on-demand content and ad placement to a retail environment where what's in stock and where it sits on the shelf is all-important.

"The way supermarkets now use data to determine how much stock they buy, what stock they buy, how they price products, where they put it in the store - you know, we're in a retail environment and we've got to decide where to put our content, how much to charge for it and what adverts we put next to what and that is largely data driven because it's just so complex," he said.

CNN.com makes use of business intelligence software to track audience media consumption habits across a range of devices and platforms in order to better inform placement decisions. This audience know-how then translates into better ad sales rates, according to Harwood.

"If you treat your IT department like someone that fixes laptops that's what you'll get. If you bring them into the heart of the business… wonderful things happen," he added.

Another important play in the digital arena is collaboration - working with other content providers and platforms to get in front of more and fresh eyeballs, according to Harwood.

He cited CNN's recent tie-up with Facebook as an example: "It was one of those seminal moments in our business when everyone woke up and thought there's a huge opportunity here," he said.

The deal led to a CNN video of US President Barak Obama's inauguration speech appearing on the social networking site, which then became the single biggest traffic referrer to CNN.com at that time.

"If you'd said to CNN management two years ago a social network is going to be the single biggest referrer to CNN video you'd have been tarred, feathered and you'd have been sent back in economy. It just wouldn't happen. Yet so it came to pass," said Harwood.