Media InSite marks 15 years of turning data into strategic intelligence

Media InSite is marking its 15th anniversary as a decision intelligence business, a journey that began with tracking advertisements in Trinidad and Tobago and has expanded to providing strategic media analysis across 22 Caribbean markets.

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Oh, I don’t know if Media InSite will be around in one year. Well, here we are 15 years later.

Founder and CEO Allison Demas, an attorney specializing in copyright and entertainment law, reflected on the company's growth from a startup financed by personal savings to what she describes as the Caribbean's leading real-time media intelligence firm. She recalled early skepticism, noting that a marketing executive once questioned if Media InSite would survive its first year, a prediction that proved incorrect as that same executive's company is now a client.

The concept for Media InSite emerged when Demas was CEO of the Copyright Music Organisation of T&T (COTT). After COTT introduced a digital system for tracking music played on radio stations for royalty distribution, a question from a publisher association head sparked a new direction: "What about ads?" This realization highlighted advertising as a major revenue source for radio stations.

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She said, ‘Radio stations already know what music is being played. What about ads?’ The penny dropped. Advertising was one of the major revenue sources for radio stations.

After a period away from COTT to care for her daughter, Demas, encouraged by her late husband Gavin, purchased monitoring equipment from COTT and launched Media InSite on July 1, 2011. She acknowledged the uncertainty of the venture, stating, "I don’t know if I was really brave or really stupid." Her husband's support was instrumental in her decision to start the company.

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I don’t know if I was really brave or really stupid. But certainly, with great encouragement from my late husband Gavin, he said, ‘Allison, why don’t you buy the equipment from COTT and start your own company?’ So that’s exactly what I did.

From its inception, Media InSite aimed for regional reach, expanding beyond Trinidad to markets like Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and others. Today, the company utilizes streaming technology and digital platforms to monitor media activity across 22 Caribbean markets. Demas attributes the company's evolution to adapting to changing client needs and embracing technological advancements in the field of media intelligence.

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Being a child of the Caribbean, you know I wasn’t just opening in Trinidad only.