ContentRank: Towards a Scoring and Ranking System for Screen Media Products Using Critical Reception Data

ContentRank applies cultural analytics to screen media reception. Its goals are to 1) create recognition benchmarks from festival screenings and awards appropriate to genre and assess and integrate earned media scores; 2) analyze audience perceptions of the media that they watch and its impact on their lives. 3) support producers with the means to amplify audience engagement and impact over the course of the production; and 4) provide funders with an understanding of the impacts of their investment. It supplies and visualizes two scores, one that measures recognition and the second, immediate and longitudinal audience impact. It maintains and updates a comprehensive reference database allowing industry-wide comparison. Our partner is Magnify Digital, an agency that delivers audience development strategy, training, and technology for the creative industries. They will integrate ContentRank into ScreenMiner, their cloud-based software solution that supports content discoverability and strategy. Industry interest in the success of media products has historically focused on quantitative metrics, such as audience numbers, retention, and earnings. However, producers, public funding agencies and investors are increasingly concerned with the qualitative impacts of the media products that they create and fund. Qualitative data collection and analysis tools extend beyond conventional domains such as marketing to fields such as ethnography and health studies. In addition, narrative, documentary, and interactive media are applied to encourage healthy behaviors. Despite opportunities to draw from these insights, media industries lack reception analysis tools and a consolidated database to allow comparative analysis. ContentRank addresses this opportunity.