Abstract:
Systems and methods can facilitate gathering information generated by network traffic to playlists. Based on analytics and metrics derived from the gathered information and reported, feedback about playlist access patterns can be supplied to interested parties, such as playlist creators/curators. The feedback can enable playlist curators to better tailor playlist content and sequence, potentially reducing a perceived need to skip around inside a playlist and making for a more enjoyable experience for playlist users.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES 
     This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/434,822, filed Mar. 29, 2012, and entitled “PLAYLIST ANALYTICS,” the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This application relates to systems and methods for gathering and reporting on network traffic statistics, and more particularly to gathering and reporting on network traffic statistics associated with playlists. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Playlists on a network, such as the Internet, are collections of content chosen by a playlist creator or “curator,” and uploaded to the network for public consumption. One example is video playlists. In a video playlist, the playlist curator may arrange the constituent videos in some arbitrary order for playback, but the playlist need not be played back in this order. Instead, a user can pick and choose among videos in the playlist, watching some in their entirety, some for only a brief time, and skipping around and back and forth among the videos. The user can also interact with a viewing session, for example indicating approval of one video, disapproval of another, and so on. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary of the specification in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the specification. This summary is not an extensive overview of the specification. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the specification nor delineate the scope of any particular embodiments of the specification, or any scope of the claims. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the specification in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented in this disclosure. 
     This specification relates to systems and methods for playlist analytics. The systems and methods can facilitate gathering information generated by network traffic to playlists. Based on analytics and metrics derived from the gathered information and reported, feedback about playlist access patterns can be supplied to interested parties, such as playlist creators/curators. The feedback can enable playlist curators to better tailor playlist content and sequence, potentially reducing a perceived need to skip around inside a playlist and making for a more enjoyable experience for playlist users. 
     In accordance with one non-limiting implementation a system comprises one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer executable components. One or more processors execute the following computer executable components stored in the one or more computer-readable storage media: a logging component that logs user traffic and interactions associated with a playlist of content; an analytics component that generates analytics regarding the logged user traffic and interactions with the playlist of content; and a reporting component that generates a report of the analytics. 
     According to yet another non-limiting implementation, a method, comprises using at least one processor to execute computer executable components stored in a memory to perform the following acts: logging user traffic and interactions associated with a playlist of content; generating analytics regarding the logged user traffic and interactions with the playlist of content; and generating a report of the playlist analytics. 
     Another aspect relates to the following non-limiting implementation. A system, comprises means for logging user traffic and interactions associated with a playlist of content; means for generating analytics regarding the logged user traffic and interaction with the playlist of content; and means for generating a report of the playlist analytics. 
     In yet another non-limiting implementation, a method comprises: capturing data associated with network traffic accessing a playlist of content; identifying, in the captured data, a sequence of user interaction with the playlist content; and based on the identifying, generating metrics corresponding to the sequence. 
     In accordance with another non-limiting implementation, records are aggregated corresponding to user engagement, via a network, of a video playlist. Information is stored, in the records, relating to a sequence of selections of videos in the video playlist corresponding to the user engagement. Based on an interaction requesting selected information, employing search criteria including at least a playlist identifier, a video identifier, and a temporal range to retrieve a subset of records from the stored records. The subset of records is analyzed to identify a departure in the sequence of selections from a default sequence of the video playlist. A recommendation is generated for modification of the playlist based on the analyzing. A visualization is rendered including at least a portion of a formatted version of the analyzed subset of records and the recommendation. 
     In yet another non-limiting implementation, an apparatus comprises one or more processing devices having computer-executable components that gather statistics associated with accessing, via a data network, playlists of digital media files. The apparatus also comprises one or more storage devices that store records of the statistics, the records describing operations associated with the accessing, the records including at least information specifying sequences of accesses to the digital media files, identifiers of the playlists and of the digital media files, and temporal information corresponding to the sequences of accesses, wherein the computer-executable components further process the records to generate selected metrics derived from the records, and interactively provide reporting of the selected metrics. 
     The following description and the drawings set forth certain illustrative aspects of the specification. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the specification may be employed. Other advantages and novel features of the specification will become apparent from the following detailed description of the specification when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a playlist analytics system; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a viewing session of a playlist; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates records of the playlist analytics system; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates aspects of a reporting component of the playlist analytics system; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a navigation component that can be employed by the playlist analytics system; 
         FIGS. 6-8  illustrate examples of methodologies in accordance with embodiments of the playlist analytics system; 
         FIG. 9  illustrates an example schematic block diagram for a computing environment in accordance with the subject specification; and 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an example block diagram of a computer operable to execute the disclosed embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of systems and methods for playlist analytics can comprise a logging component, an analytics component and a reporting component. The logging component can log data associated with traffic to a playlist. The analytics component can process the log data to generate analytics and metrics describing aspects of the traffic, and the reporting component can report the analytics and metrics. The reported analytics and metrics can be useful in various ways. For example, a playlist creator or curator can use information in the reported analytics and metrics to make editing decisions about a playlist, leading to, for example, removal of unpopular content from the playlist or changes to a default order of play of content in the playlist. Such changes can, in turn, drive longer and more enjoyable sessions for users who engage playlists. For example, in the case of a video playlist, because an order and content of the video playlist can be made more compatible with viewer preferences by the editing decisions, viewers can be less burdened by the need to actively manage their viewing experiences by making their own video selections. 
     It is to be appreciated that in accordance with one or more implementations described in this disclosure, users can opt-out of providing personal information, demographic information, location information, proprietary information, sensitive information, or the like in connection with data gathering aspects. Moreover, one or more implementations described herein can provide for anonymizing collected, received, or transmitted data. 
     Embodiments of the systems and methods for playlist analytics can operate within a communications framework. Examples include data networks such as the Internet or World-Wide-Web (“Web”). In more detail, the embodiments can interact, responsive to user inputs, with a network-based media content hosting and delivery system, supported by network components such as servers linked by various communication media, browsers, protocols including, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), web navigation tools such as Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), and the like. 
     The above-outlined embodiments are now described in more detail with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It may be evident, however, that the embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the embodiments. 
     It should further be understood that the term “component” as used herein, and the variously-labeled component blocks as shown in the drawings, are not intended to suggest that a labeled component is necessarily discrete and separate from another labeled component. The labeled components can be dispersed or intermixed. Additionally, a particular label for a component, rather than indicating any limitation on its capabilities, should be understood as a categorization which generally describes one or a group of structures, capabilities, features or operations associated with the component. However, the structures, capabilities, features or operations may be shared with other components, or may cooperate with other components for combined effects. 
     Examples of network implementations facilitating embodiments of the components are described in more detail further on, with reference to  FIGS. 9 and 10 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , embodiments of a playlist analytics system  100  can include a logging component  101 , an analytics component  102 , and a reporting component  103 . The logging component  101  can log traffic associated with a playlist to generate or produce log data  111 . The traffic can include user traffic and interactions. The analytics component  102  can process the log data  111  to generate or produce analytics or metrics data  112 . The reporting component  103  can process the analytics or metrics data  112  to generate or produce report and visualization information  113 . The playlist analytics system  100  can interact with a network-based media content hosting and delivery system  104 . 
     The log data  111  can include information associated with network traffic to a playlist. “Traffic” in this context may mean, for example, entering a playlist and consuming (e.g., viewing, listening to), by users, all or a portion of the playlist content, and interactions with the playlist by users. User interactions referred to in the following can be implemented at least partly via web-based mechanisms, such as browsers. More specifically, a user can interact with the media content hosting and delivery system  104  using a browser to supply input signals to an interface with the media content hosting and delivery system  104 . In response to the signals, components of the playlist analytics system  100  can interact with the media content hosting and delivery system  104  to effect operations described in the following. A user can be, for example, a registrant with or subscriber to the media content hosting and delivery system  104 , or may simply be one casually navigating or “surfing” the Internet. 
     To promote understanding, the following discusses embodiments of a playlist analytics system using the concrete example of video playlists. However, it should be understood that the concepts described are not limited to applications involving videos, and would find useful application in a variety of other contexts. For example, the components described can be implemented in connection with audio files on a music sharing web site, or for that matter, in connection with any kind of network-based consumption of digital content. 
     A video playlist can be a list of items of content in video format, in discrete packages or units called “videos.” Items on the playlist can be individually selected for playback. A playlist can be assembled by a playlist creator or curator and uploaded to the media (in this example, video) content hosting and delivery system  104  for public viewing. Videos in the playlist may or may not be creations of the curator; that is, individual videos in the playlist may have varied authorship, although the playlist as a whole is the creation of the curator. Copies of videos in the playlist may exist and be accessible elsewhere in the media content hosting and delivery system  104  or a network, individually or in isolation (e.g., not in a playlist). 
       FIG. 2  shows an illustrative example of traffic involving a viewing session of a playlist. In  FIG. 2 , a playlist  200  is entered (“ENTER  201 ”) by a user to begin the session. The playlist  200  comprises N videos (N an integer) arranged in a predetermined list sequence, or default sequence, of video 1, video 2, . . . , video N−1, video N, serially or successively. The list or default sequence may have been chosen, for example, by the playlist curator. In this example, the sequence numbers 1, 2, . . . , N−1, N also serve as video identifiers, but in general, video identifiers and sequence information can be independent of each other, as discussed further in the following. 
     The viewing session need not follow the serial list sequence, however. For example, by interacting with the playlist, the user can begin on a different video from video 1, the first video in the playlist. In the example of  FIG. 2 , the session begins on video 2 (“START VIEWING  202 ”), the second video in the playlist, but could have begun with any of the videos 1-N. A sequence that deviates or departs from the list or default sequence may be referred to herein as a “play sequence.” The user then chooses to skip the third and fourth videos (“SKIP  203 ”) in the list sequence, and next view video 5, the fifth video in the list sequence. Then, the user skips videos 6-10 (“SKIP  204 ”) and views video 11. After viewing all or a portion of video 11, the user chooses to exit (“EXIT  205 ”) the playlist entirely. Thus, the viewing session had the play sequence video 2, video 5, video 11. 
     While viewing video 5, the user performed further interaction with the playlist, by endorsing or indicating approval of the video (“ENDORSE  206 ”), and sharing the video (“SHARE  207 ”). “Sharing” in this context may mean, for example, propagating information about the video to another entity or entities in some fashion, such as by e-mailing a link to the video to one or more other users, embedding a link to the video in a website, or notifying a social network about the video. Other kinds of interaction can include, for example, “subscribing” to the video creator or playlist curator, meaning that the user registers or requests to receive notices of other works by the video creator or playlist curator. 
     As previously discussed, the logging component  101  can log (e.g., monitor, collect, capture, gather, aggregate, record, store) data associated with traffic accessing a playlist such as playlist  200 . The logged data can reside in a computing device memory temporarily, for example, and subsequently be stored for a longer term on a storage device such as disk storage, for example.  FIG. 3  shows an example of log data  111  that can be logged by the logging component  101 . The log data  111  can include sequence records or information  300 , and interaction records or information  310 . The sequence records  300  and interaction records  310  can include information relating to a sequence of selections of videos in a video playlist corresponding to a user engagement of the playlist, as well as other user actions detected during the engagement. Accordingly, the sequence records  300  and interaction records  310  can more particularly include temporal information, and playlist and video identifier information. It should be understood in the following discussion that the sequence information  300  and interaction information  310  is in no way limited to the representation shown in  FIG. 3 , which is only to facilitate a conceptual understanding. 
     In any event, sequence records  300  can identify sequences, or paths or chains, corresponding to user interactions, e.g., selections, in a playlist viewing session as described in connection with  FIG. 2 . Record  301 , represented as the sequence “ENTER PLAYLIST  200 →VIDEO 2→VIDEO 5→VIDEO 11→EXIT PLAYLIST  200 ”, corresponds to the example of  FIG. 2 . Thus, a sequence record can include a playlist identifier (in this case, “ 200 ”), and one or more video identifiers (in this case, “2”, “5” and “11”). In this example, for conciseness the playlist identifier is a number, and respective video identifiers happen to be numbers corresponding with the position of each video in the default sequence of the playlist. However, this need not be the case. A playlist or video identifier could instead be, for example, a string of characters such as a title, and information denoting the video&#39;s position in the default sequence could be independent of the identifier. 
     Record  302  is another example of a record corresponding to a playlist viewing session, in this case for a playlist having the identifier “ 320 ” and describing a sequence for videos having the identifiers “4”, “6” and “7”, respectively (which again, happen to correspond to each video&#39;s position in the default sequence). Record  302  illustrates that a play sequence need not be serial, because record  302  indicates that in playlist  320 , video 7 was played first, then video 6 was played, and then video 4 was played. A play sequence can also include repetition, as indicated by a second playing of video 7 after the playing of video 4. As indicated in record  302 , playlist  320  was exited after the second playing of video 7. 
     Record  303  indicates that a playlist having the identifier “ 321 ” was entered, and only video 3 of the playlist was played before the playlist was exited. Such an occurrence (only one video of a playlist is played before the playlist is exited) may be referred to as a “bounce.” Thus, a playlist can have a “bounce rate,” as discussed in more detail further on. 
     Record  304  indicates that a playlist having the identifier “ 322 ” was entered, and the viewing session followed the list or default sequence throughout. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 3 , log data  111  can further include interaction records  310 . The interaction records  310  can include playlist statistics and video-specific statistics, for example. Such statistics can include information describing actions taken with respect to playlists and particular videos within the playlists. For example, the statistics can indicate when (e.g., date and time) a playlist was entered and exited, and when (e.g., date and time) playback of particular videos within the playlist was begun and ended, and what and when particular actions (e.g., endorse, share) were taken with respect to the particular videos. 
     To facilitate understanding, interaction record  311  shown in  FIG. 3  corresponds to the example of  FIG. 2  and the sequence record  301  discussed previously. Thus, interaction record  111  shows that playlist  200  was entered on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS1, and exited on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS11. Playback of video 2 was begun on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS2, and ended on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS3. Playback of video 5 was begun on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS5, and ended on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS8. Video 5 received an endorsement on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS6, and was shared on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS7. Playback of video 11 was begun on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS9, and ended on month-day-year MMDDYY1 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS10. 
     Interaction record  312  corresponds to the example of sequence record  303 , and indicates a “bounce” of playlist  321  on month-day-year MMDDYY2 and hour-minute-second HHMMSS15. Interaction records  310  are, of course, not limited to the foregoing examples, nor are sequence records  300 . In view of the volume of traffic associated with the viewing of web-based videos, log data  111  would likely be extensive and comprise numerous records. 
     It may be appreciated in light of the foregoing that embodiments of the playlist analytics system  100  can gather statistics associated with accessing, via a data network, playlists of digital media files. The statistics can be stored in records including at least information specifying sequences of accesses to the digital media files, identifiers of the playlists and of the digital media files, and temporal information corresponding to the sequences of accesses. For example, the statistics can include aggregated records corresponding to user engagement, via the network, of a video playlist. The records can store information relating to a sequence of selections of videos in the video playlist corresponding to the user engagement, as well as to other user actions detected in the course of the user engagement. 
     As indicated previously, referring to  FIG. 1 , the analytics/metrics components  102  can process (e.g., analyze, organize, classify, perform computations on, perform look-ups or searches on, quantify, correlate sections of, filter, parse, make inferences based on) the log data  111  to generate or produce analytics or metrics data  112 . The analytics or metrics data  112  can reside in a computing device memory temporarily, for example, and subsequently be stored for a longer term on a storage device such as disk storage, for example. Referring to  FIG. 4 , the reporting component  103  can process the analytics or metrics data  112  to generate or produce one or more reports or visualizations (e.g., formatted displays or documents in either tangible or electronic form)  113 . The reports or visualizations  113  can reside in a computing device memory temporarily, for example, and subsequently be stored for a longer term on a storage device such as disk storage, for example. The reporting component  103  can include an interactivity component  401  to facilitate the collection and analysis of particular statistics by the logging component  101  and analytics component  102 , and the generating of selected, filtered or customized information in the reports or visualizations  113 . 
     For example, based at least partly on user interactions via the interactivity component  401 , analytics component  102  can generate analytics relating to one or more skips over content in a default sequence of a playlist, and the reports or visualizations  113  can generate a corresponding report. More specifically, based on analytics/metrics information  112  supplied by the analytics component  102 , the reports or visualizations  113  can specify a number of times a given video was skipped in a play sequence, or can specify a rate representing a number of times per playlist access that the given video was skipped. 
     As another example, analytics component  102  can generate analytics relating to a number of times a playlist is accessed (also, “playlist starts”), and the reports or visualizations  113  can generate a corresponding report. 
     As still another example, based on analytics relating to a number of times that only one item of a playlist was accessed before the playlist was exited, the reports or visualizations  113  can further include a “bounce rate.” For example, if a playlist was entered one hundred times, and three out of the one hundred times only one video or a portion of one video was played before the playlist was exited, the playlist would have a bounce rate of three percent. 
     Based on analytics relating to a number of times that an item of playlist content is first to be accessed after the playlist is entered, the reports or visualizations  113  can further include metrics describing an “entry rate,” e.g., a rate corresponding to a number of times that a play sequence began on a particular video. Similarly, metrics can describe an “exit rate,” or a rate corresponding to a number of times that an item of playlist content was last to be accessed before the playlist was exited. Thus, for example, if playlist  200  was entered one hundred times, and five out of the one hundred times the playback sequence began with video 2, video 2 would have an entry rate of five percent. Similarly, if four out of the ten times the play sequence ended with video 11, video 11 would have an exit rate of four percent. 
     Other metrics of interest that can be generated by the analytics component  102  and included in the reports or visualizations  113  are metrics describing endorsements or disapprovals (also, “likes” or “dislikes”) of either a playlist or of individual items within the playlist. The analytics component  102  can further generate, and the reports or visualizations  113  can further include, metrics describing playlist or playlist video subscribes and shares, for example. 
     Another example of metrics of interest that can be included in the reports or visualizations  113 , based on analytics generated by the analytics component  102 , are metrics describing video views within the context of a playlist. In more detail, the metrics can measure, for example, how many times a given video was played and for how long, and/or how often a video was “liked” or “disliked” within a playlist, relative to a version of the video existing in isolation or outside the playlist. Similarly, the metrics can contrast playbacks, playback durations, likes/dislikes/shares and so on for particular videos within a playlist relative to other particular videos within the playlist. 
     Still another metric of interest that can be included in the reports or visualizations  113 , based on analytics generated by the analytics component  102 , is a metric describing an average number of accesses to playlist items per accesses to the playlist. Thus, for example, a histogram can be generated that shows that of, say, two hundred accesses to a playlist of ten videos, without regard to the identities of specific videos, 15% of playbacks were of five videos, 20% of playbacks were of three videos, and 65% of playbacks were of two videos. 
     The reports or visualizations  113  can further include annotations indicating where in time changes to playlists were made, and where playback sequences departed from the list or default sequences. The annotations can further include displays of video-specific statistics, e.g., likes/dislikes, shares, subscribes, playback duration and so on, within the context of a playlist. The annotations can further include user comments on either a playlist or individual videos within the playlist. 
     All of the above information can be useful in a variety of ways. For example, the information can be provided to a playlist curator to facilitate editorial decisions. Thus, a high skip rate, a high number of “dislikes” or a high frequency of short playback durations for a video could suggest to a playlist curator that the video should be removed from the playlist, or that its position in the list or default sequence should be changed. Similarly, a high entry rate for a video that is not first in the list or default sequence could suggest that the playlist be re-ordered so that the video is first in the list or default sequence. A high bounce rate for a playlist could suggest to the playlist curator that more interesting content is needed. 
     As noted previously, the reporting component  103  can include an interactivity component  401  to facilitate, in response to user interactions, the collection and analysis of particular statistics by the logging component  101  and analytics component  102 , and the generating of filtered or customized information in the reports or visualizations  113 . Thus, for example, via an interface, a user can make selections to cause certain statistics to be gathered (such as those discussed in the foregoing examples), processed in a particular way, and rendered in a particular form (e.g., formatted displays, printouts and the like). The interactivity component  401  can also, based on an analysis of the statistics, generate a recommendation for modification of a playlist along the lines discussed above, or otherwise as appropriate, and include the recommendation in the rendered report. 
     In addition to the examples given above, through interactions with the interactivity component  401 , a user can, say, cause statistics to be gathered regarding a device or platform (e.g., tablet, notebook, personal computer, mobile communication device) via which a playlist is accessed, and cause platform-specific reports (e.g., reports describing which playlists were accessed via which platforms) to be generated from the gathered statistics. 
     In embodiments, the reporting component  103  can provide information useful to advertisers. For example, statistics regarding the popularity or unpopularity of playlists and their content, or regarding platforms from which playlists were accessed, can be provided to advertisers to facilitate advertising decisions. 
     As previously noted, embodiments of the video playlist analytics system  100  can be implemented within a network such as the Internet or Web. Network-based navigation techniques can be employed in connection with embodiments of the video playlist analytics system  100 .  FIG. 5  shows an example of a navigation component  500  that can be employed by embodiments of the video playlist analytics system  100 . The navigation component  500  can include network location information  501 , along with a playlist identifier (ID)  502  and a video identifier (ID)  503 . The navigation component  500  can be or include a URL, for example. The navigation component  500  or a similar mechanism can be used, for example in response to an action by a user, to navigate to a playlist, or to a video within a playlist. 
     Additionally, records including information such as the playlist ID  502  and video ID  503  can be generated in response to network traffic accessing the video content hosting and delivery system  104 , and logged in the log data  111 , as indicated in  FIG. 3  and accompanying description. In embodiments of the video playlist analytics system  100 , the playlist ID and video ID can serve as keys for searches and record retrieval within the log data  111 , in order, for instance, to supply particular records to the analytics component  102  and reporting component  103 . 
     In view of the foregoing, embodiments of the playlist analytics system  100  can aggregate records corresponding to user engagement, via a network, of one or more video playlists, and store information relating to sequences of selections of videos in the one or more video playlists corresponding to the user engagement. Another user, such as a playlist curator, can interact with the playlist analytics system  100 , for example via the interactivity component  401 , to request selected information in the aggregated records. Employing the playlist ID and video ID as keys to serve as at least part of search criteria, the playlist analytics system  100  can search the aggregated records and retrieve the requested information. A temporal range, e.g., a specified starting date and time and ending date and time, can also be provided as a search criterion. 
     Based on the search criteria applied, the playlist analytics system  100  can retrieve a subset of the aggregated records, and analyze the subset of records. For example, the analysis can identify one or more departures in one or more of the sequences of selections of videos from default sequences of respective corresponding playlists. The playlist analytics system  100  can generate one or more recommendations for modifications of the playlists based on the analyzing, and render one or more visualizations including one or more portions of formatted versions of the analyzed subset of records and the one more recommendations. 
     Embodiments of the video playlist analytics system  100  can employ object-oriented programming techniques. Such techniques can involve, for example, creating, modifying and storing a “playlist object,” with “video objects” forming atomic units of the playlist object. 
       FIGS. 6-8  illustrate methodologies and/or flow diagrams in accordance with this disclosure. For simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are depicted and described as a series of acts. However, acts in accordance with this disclosure can occur in various orders and/or concurrently, and with other acts not presented and described herein. Furthermore, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement the methodologies in accordance with the disclosed subject matter. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that the methodologies could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states via a state diagram or events. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the methodologies disclosed in this specification are capable of being stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferring such methodologies to computing devices. The term article of manufacture, as used herein, is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or storage media. 
     Moreover, various acts have been described in detail above in connection with respective system diagrams. It is to be appreciated that the detailed description of such acts in the prior figures can be and are intended to be implementable in accordance with the following methodologies. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an example methodology  600  that can be implemented by the playlist analytics system  100  described in the foregoing. The methodology  600  can comprise logging user traffic and interactions associated with a playlist of content (block  601 ) (e.g., using logging component  101 ). The methodology  600  can further comprise generating analytics regarding the logged user traffic and interactions (block  602 ) (e.g., using analytics component  102 ), and generating a report of the playlist analytics (block  603 ) (e.g., using reporting component  103 ). 
       FIG. 7  illustrates another example methodology  700  that can be implemented by the playlist analytics system  100 . The methodology  700  can comprise capturing data associated with network traffic accessing a playlist of content (block  701 , e.g., using logging component  101 ), and identifying, in the captured data, a sequence of user interaction with the playlist content (block  702 , e.g., using analytics component  102 ). The methodology  700  can further comprise, based on the identifying, generating metrics corresponding to the sequence (block  703 , e.g., using analytics component  102 ), and identifying, in the metrics, a deviation in the sequence of user interaction from a default sequence of the playlist (block  704 , e.g., using analytics component  102  and reporting component  103 ). 
       FIG. 8  illustrates still another example methodology  800  that can be implemented by the playlist analytics system  100 . The methodology  800  can comprise aggregating records corresponding to user engagement, via a network, of a video playlist (block  801 , e.g., using logging component  101 ), and storing, in the records, information relating to a sequence of selections of videos in the video playlist corresponding to the user engagement (block  802 , e.g., using logging component  101 ). 
     The methodology  800  can further comprise, based on an interaction requesting selected information, employing search criteria including at least a playlist identifier, a video identifier, and a temporal range to retrieve a subset of records from the stored records (block  803 , e.g., using analytics component  102 ), and analyzing the subset of records to identify a departure in the sequence of selections from a default sequence of the video playlist (block  804 , e.g., using analytics component  102 ). The methodology  800  can further comprise generating a recommendation for modification of the playlist based on the analyzing (block  805 , e.g., using analytics component  102  and reporting component  103 ), and rendering a visualization including at least a portion of a formatted version of the analyzed subset of records and the recommendation (block  806 , e.g., using reporting component  103 ). 
     Reference throughout this specification to “embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in one or more embodiments. Thus, the appearances of the word “embodiments,” or “in embodiments,” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. 
     To the extent that the terms “includes,” “including,” “has,” “contains,” variants thereof, and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements. 
     As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system,” or the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware (e.g., a circuit), a combination of hardware and software, or an entity related to an operational machine with one or more specific functionalities. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor (e.g., digital signal processor), a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Further, a “device” can come in the form of specially designed hardware; generalized hardware made specialized by the execution of software thereon that enables hardware to perform specific functions (e.g., generating interest points and/or fingerprints); software on a computer readable medium; or a combination thereof. 
     The aforementioned systems, circuits, modules, and so on have been described with respect to interaction between several components and/or blocks. It can be appreciated that such systems, circuits, components, blocks, and so forth can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components communicatively coupled to other components rather than included within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it should be noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and any one or more middle layers, such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Any components described herein may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but known by those of skill in the art. 
     Moreover, the words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. 
     With reference to  FIG. 9 , a suitable environment  900  for implementing various aspects of the claimed subject matter includes a computer  902 . The computer  902  includes a processing unit  904 , a system memory  906 , a codec  905 , and a system bus  908 . It is to be appreciated that the computer can be employed in connection with implementation one or more of the systems or components shown and described in connection with  FIGS. 1-5 . The system bus  908  couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory  906  to the processing unit  904 . The processing unit  904  can be any of various available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures also can be employed as the processing unit  904 . 
     The system bus  908  can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Card Bus, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus (PCMCIA), Firewire (IEEE 994), and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI). 
     The system memory  906  includes volatile memory  910  and non-volatile memory  912 . The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer  902 , such as during start-up, is stored in non-volatile memory  912 . By way of illustration, and not limitation, non-volatile memory  912  can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory  910  includes random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. According to present aspects, the volatile memory may store the write operation retry logic (not shown in  FIG. 9 ) and the like. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM). 
     Computer  902  may also include removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer storage media.  FIG. 9  illustrates, for example, a disk storage  914 . Disk storage  914  includes, but is not limited to, devices like a magnetic disk drive, solid state disk (SSD) floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zip drive, LS-100 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick. In addition, disk storage  914  can include storage media separately or in combination with other storage media including, but not limited to, an optical disk drive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive (CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatile disk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the disk storage devices  914  to the system bus  908 , a removable or non-removable interface is typically used, such as interface  916 . 
     It is to be appreciated that  FIG. 9  describes software that acts as an intermediary between users and the basic computer resources described in the suitable operating environment  900 . Such software includes an operating system  918 . Operating system  918 , which can be stored on disk storage  914 , acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system  902 . Applications  920  take advantage of the management of resources by operating system  918  through program modules  924 , and program data  926 , such as the boot/shutdown transaction table and the like, stored either in system memory  906  or on disk storage  914 . It is to be appreciated that the claimed subject matter can be implemented with various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. 
     A user enters commands or information into the computer  902  through input device(s)  928 . Input devices  928  include, but are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and the like. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit  904  through the system bus  908  via interface port(s)  930 . Interface port(s)  930  include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s)  936  use some of the same type of ports as input device(s)  928 . Thus, for example, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer  902 , and to output information from computer  902  to an output device  936 . Output adapter  934  is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices  936  like monitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices  936 , which require special adapters. The output adapters  934  include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device  936  and the system bus  908 . It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s)  938 . 
     Computer  902  can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s)  938 . The remote computer(s)  938  can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, a peer device, a smart phone, a tablet, or other network node, and typically includes many of the elements described relative to computer  902 . For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device  940  is illustrated with remote computer(s)  938 . Remote computer(s)  938  is logically connected to computer  902  through a network interface  942  and then connected via communication connection(s)  944 . Network interface  942  encompasses wire and/or wireless communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN) and cellular networks. LAN technologies include Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), Ethernet, Token Ring and the like. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). 
     Communication connection(s)  944  refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface  942  to the bus  908 . While communication connection  944  is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer  902 , it can also be external to computer  902 . The hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface  942  includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and wired and wireless Ethernet cards, hubs, and routers. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , there is illustrated a schematic block diagram of a computing environment  1000  in accordance with the subject specification. The system  1000  includes one or more client(s)  1002 , which can include an application or a system that accesses a service on the server  1004 . The client(s)  1002  can be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). The client(s)  1002  can house cookie(s), metadata and/or associated contextual information by employing the specification, for example. 
     The system  1000  also includes one or more server(s)  1004 . The server(s)  1004  can also be hardware or hardware in combination with software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). The servers  1004  can house threads to perform, for example, interest point detection, distorting, merging, pruning, mixing, fingerprint generation, matching score generation, or fingerprint comparisons in accordance with the subject disclosure. One possible communication between a client  1002  and a server  1004  can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes where the data packet contains, for example, an audio sample. The data packet can include a cookie and/or associated contextual information, for example. The system  1000  includes a communication framework  1006  (e.g., a global communication network such as the Internet) that can be employed to facilitate communications between the client(s)  1002  and the server(s)  1004 . 
     Communications can be facilitated via a wired (including optical fiber) and/or wireless technology. The client(s)  1002  are operatively connected to one or more client data store(s)  1008  that can be employed to store information local to the client(s)  1002  (e.g., cookie(s) and/or associated contextual information). Similarly, the server(s)  1004  are operatively connected to one or more server data store(s)  1010  that can be employed to store information local to the servers  1004 . 
     The illustrated aspects of the disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     The systems and processes described below can be embodied within hardware, such as a single integrated circuit (IC) chip, multiple ICs, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like. Further, the order in which some or all of the process blocks appear in each process should not be deemed limiting. Rather, it should be understood that some of the process blocks can be executed in a variety of orders that are not all of which may be explicitly illustrated herein. 
     What has been described above includes examples of the implementations of the present invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but many further combinations and permutations of the subject innovation are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Moreover, the above description of illustrated implementations of this disclosure, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed implementations to the precise forms disclosed. While specific implementations and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible that are considered within the scope of such implementations and examples, as those skilled in the relevant art can recognize. 
     In particular and in regard to the various functions performed by the above described components, devices, circuits, systems and the like, the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., a functional equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure, which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary aspects of the claimed subject matter. In this regard, it will also be recognized that the innovation includes a system as well as a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the acts and/or events of the various methods of the claimed subject matter.