Depending on where you sit in the media organization, analytics are either one of the best or worst areas you have to deal with. I’ve had conversations with many people that are annoyed by it, feeling that it removes the creative process. And then there are people that live by it, believing there is a magical formula buried deep within the data that can inform any decision.
I tend to lean toward the latter, believing that there are insights that can be gleaned from data. It is far too easy to look at data and use it to form a predetermined hypothesis rather than using the data to actually find useful insights. Sometimes the success or failure of something really does boil down to true creative prowess.