What does housewives' porn consumption have to do with your startup? It's in the data

Who knows that there are basically a lot of desperate housewives in Indonesia, reports Tech in Asia

housewife, online, net, internet
Photo: Shutterstock
Kylee McIntyre
Last Updated : Dec 02 2016 | 6:01 PM IST
Melvin Sumapung works with corporate strategy and business development at big data and analytics firm Dattabot (previously Mediatrac). He’s standing on the product stage at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2016, and he’s talking to us about porn.
 
“Who knows that there are basically a lot of desperate housewives in Indonesia?” he asks. A slide in his presentation shows all four iconic Desperate Housewives actresses, along with the result of a survey of 50 to 60 million people: “We find that, counterintuitively, housewives watch mobile porn a lot more.” 
 
Given enough data points, one can pull information on a number of trends and relationships. But how do you pull useful data when there’s so much out there?
 
Hurdles
 
The product stage is so packed that I can only manage to cram myself into the back of the room, where I and other standing individuals stand nearly shoulder-to-shoulder. Melvin says that good big data insights require connectivity, intelligence, and integration. Indonesia faces challenges there because internet penetration in the country is only 34 per cent and the big data industry in the country is quite young.
 
“In order for you to get a lot of data to be turned into insights, you need to overcome these [technological challenges]. There are a lot of data formats, structures, sources,” Melvin tells the crowd. “Preparing them is very time-consuming and complex.” 
 
Solutions
 
Indonesia’s big data connectivity problems are best tackled in the public sector, where Melvin finds the best opportunity to make the public feel the value of big data. In turn, they’ll want to use big data more, in what he sees as a “very, very reputable feedback loop.”

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here

*Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times

Smart Quarterly

₹900

3 Months

₹300/Month

SAVE 25%

Smart Essential

₹2,700

1 Year

₹225/Month

SAVE 46%
*Complimentary New York Times access for the 2nd year will be given after 12 months

Super Saver

₹3,900

2 Years

₹162/Month

Subscribe

Renews automatically, cancel anytime

Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans

Exclusive premium stories online

  • Over 30 premium stories daily, handpicked by our editors

Complimentary Access to The New York Times

  • News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic

Business Standard Epaper

  • Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share

Curated Newsletters

  • Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox

Market Analysis & Investment Insights

  • In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor

Archives

  • Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997

Ad-free Reading

  • Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements

Seamless Access Across All Devices

  • Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app

More From This Section

First Published: Dec 02 2016 | 5:58 PM IST

Next Story