title: The Lessons Oscar Taught Us: Data Science and Media & Entertainment.
abstract: Farsite Group, a data science firm based in Columbus, Ohio, launched a highly visible campaign in early 2013 to use predictive analytics to forecast the winners of the 85th Annual Academy Awards. The initiative was fun and exciting for the millions of Oscar viewers, but it also illustrated how data science could be further deployed in the media and entertainment industries. This article explores the current and potential use cases for big data and predictive analytics in those industries. It further discusses how the Farsite Forecast was built, as well as how the model was iterated, how the projections performed, and what lessons were learned in the process.
authors.affiliation: Farsite , Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: Farsite , Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McClarren
authors.affiliation: Farsite , Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaughan