Media Analytics Major
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About the Major
The media analytics major equips students with the knowledge and skills to become effective data-driven decision-makers within the media industry. From understanding Netflix viewership to analyzing Instagram influencers, students learn how to legally and ethically collect data, generate relevant insights and communicate those findings to diverse audiences.
Jobs in Media Analytics
- Consumer insights analyst
- Digital content strategist
- Director of audience development
- Media analyst
- Social media marketing manager
Past Elon Media Analytics Internships
- 22squared
- CollegeAPP
- Collegiate Sports Associates
- Sales Factory
- Texas Instruments
Related Majors
Forging his own path in media analytics has led to diverse experiences
When Emmanuel “Manny” Tobe entered Elon University in 2017, he intended to major in journalism, focusing on sports. But when his freshman-year schedule didn’t mesh with the introductory classes, he decided to sign up for an advanced course, Understanding Audiences—and that decision changed the trajectory of his life.
“It was a way of looking at media that I didn’t know people were doing; it’s not something you hear a lot about,” Tobe said. The course “started a level of exploration for me. Like, OK, let’s dig a little bit deeper into this. From there, I just kept on digging.”
He changed his major his sophomore year to media analytics and would go on to double major in it and cinema and TV arts, graduating in 2021.
There’s a reason why analytics is in the communications school—because communication is the backbone of analytics.
His interest in sports—and sports statistics—had already made him “a big numbers guy,” he said. “I love how in sports you can use statistics to tell a story and add context to something.” He liked the idea of measuring media’s impact—such as how viewers use streaming services, how independent films vs. blockbusters perform at the box office, why one website brings in more traffic than another and at different times of day. But key to those numbers, he learned, was learning how to present them.
“Numbers can be intimidating or boring if you look at them on a spreadsheet; so how can you visualize it so people can understand it?” Tobe said. “There’s a reason why analytics is in the communications school—because communication is the backbone of analytics. For me, with my jobs, they haven’t all been strictly crunching data, but they’ve all been in forms of communication.”
Tobe has an end goal in mind for his career—he wants to be a high-level executive at a streaming service or sports league and use analytics to influence creative decisions—but he doesn’t have a path lined up to get there. If the pandemic taught him anything, it’s that life doesn’t always follow a clear direction. And you have to learn to pivot.
His spring 2020 internship at Fox in Los Angeles—as part of Elon’s Study USA program—and the opportunity he had lined up with NBC Sports for the Summer Olympics? Both were canceled thanks to COVID, but Tobe decided to use his time at home to build his own analytics consulting LLC. That internship—and later full-time job—at Hearst Magazines? While he started out helping with paid social media campaigns, he transitioned to analyzing the team’s data after bringing his own researched spreadsheets to weekly meetings just in case an executive asked a question about a certain campaign.
Tobe, who is currently a contractor with the NBA in New York City, said his experiences at Elon contributed greatly to where he is today, including his job working as a media analytics account executive for the student-run PR firm Live Oak Communications. But he advises future students to look for opportunities outside the obvious.
“You don’t have to look for something heavy in analytics, like Live Oak, which has limited spots,” he said. “Elon Student Television, Elon Phoenix Weekly, Elon News Network, they all need people who can tell them who is consuming them on online. They all need analysts. So it’s easy to look at this one thing and say, ‘I want to do this because it says “media analytics executive,”’ but you can go and make your own path.”
Did You Know?
- Elon’s media analytics graduates have gone on to work at companies such as Google, Disney, Fox, Bloomberg and the NBA.
- Student media organizations offer students an array of opportunities to get hands-on analytics experience. Among them: Elon News Network, Elon Student Television, the radio station WSOE-FM, Live Oak Communications and Elon Sports Vision.
- Want to pursue your own project? Go ahead. Elon is a national leader in undergraduate research and has experienced faculty eager to help you explore your own media analytics-related inquiry.