CLIENT CASE VRT

A strategic partnership
with VRT

Setting up a Snowplow event stream and fostering data adoption.

About
VRT

The VRT (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie) is the Flemish community’s national public service broadcaster with a public mandate for informing and entertaining its citizens.

VRT’s Data & Intelligence (D&I) team and Stitchd have collaborated on several projects over the last five years to help them cater to their audience and broaden its tastes. Our embedded developers have assisted the D&I team in previous implementations, various trainings, and adopt a data-driven mindset throughout the organisation.

Centralised
analytics

We are helping the VRT by setting up one of the main data streams for their new central platform for ethical data collection and tracking. The AWS-powered platform was built by the D&I team to provide a single source of truth across all of VRT’s brands, channels and platforms.

VRT’s wide offering includes a streaming platform (VRT MAX), multiple TV and radio stations, social media channels and news platforms (VRT NWS and Sporza). These are spread through traditional means, websites, and apps for TVs, mobile devices, and cars.

To cover this wide range, the VRT decided on an event-based approach to analytics.

The data stream that we set up is built on Snowplow and behavioural data. This helps meet the key requirements for the VRT’s new platform: speed, personalisation and in-depth behavioural analyses. Any data needs to be gathered and processed as soon as possible. The platform should also cater to the needs of its users while enticing them to step out of their comfort zone content-wise.

A strategic partnership

We grew organically from consultants to a proactive partner by helping them define and refine their strategy through analytics, insights, and algorithms. The technological changes supported by our experts and the other members of the D&I team are helping the VRT to move the whole organisation towards a data-driven mindset.

"Because of the long lasting partnership with Stitchd, they are familiar with the goals of VRT which leads to interesting visions and directions around the data possibilities."

Emilie Nenquin

Head Data & Intelligence

USE CASE

Public mandate

The VRT has an explicit assignment from the community to inform and entertain the Flemish-speaking populace of Belgium through their reporting and programmes. Our assistance in their projects helps them fulfil this assignment by working on their goals.

1. GETTING TO KNOW THEIR USERS: What is interesting for Flemish people?
2. INCREASING THE REACH: The VRT has to reach as many citizens as possible.
3. BROADENING TASTES: Offering a wide range of video and audio content to inspire people to try out new things.
4. MEETING QUOTAS: Measuring KPIs about diversity, quality, culture, education, and innovation automatically through AI.
5. ARCHIVING: Text recognition algorithms automatically add to the VRT's vast archive.

Ethically sourced data

As a public service company, the VRT needs to handle and process every piece of data respectfully. As mentioned before, privacy and transparency are a key aspect of their data strategy. VRT’s new data platform reflects that vision.

Nothing happens without consent: users always need to agree before the platform can collect and process their data. To remain transparent, every algorithm is built in-house, so the VRT can always explain to their users which data they collect and why.

Key points

Single source of truth

The Snowplow data stream gathers data from a wide range of brands, channels, platforms and tools to align and speed up analytics and insights.

Strategic alignment

Thanks to their new analytics platform, the VRT can meet the goals of their data strategy, fulfil their public mandate KPIs, and adopt a data-driven mindset.