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• avcodec_find_decoder for FFMpeg 2.1 is not working with Android

  18 mars 2014, par Fabien Henon

  I ported FFMpeg 2.1 to Android with NDK and I wrote a JNI function to initialize a video.

  Here is the code of this C function :

  JNIEXPORT int JNICALL Java_com_media_ffmpeg_FFMpeg_naInit(JNIEnv *pEnv, jobject pObj, jstring pfilename) {
  
      gVideoFileName = (char *) (*pEnv)->GetStringUTFChars(pEnv, pfilename, NULL);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "Init %s\n", gVideoFileName);
  
  
  
      avcodec_register_all();
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "avcodec_register_all\n");
  
  
  
      av_register_all();
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "av_register_all\n");
  
  
  
      VideoState *vs;
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "VideoState var\n");
  
  
  
      vs = malloc(sizeof (VideoState));
  
      memset(vs, 0, sizeof(VideoState));
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "malloc\n");
  
  
  
      gvs = vs;
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "VideoState\n");
  
  
  
      //open the video file
  
      avformat_open_input(&vs->pFormatCtx, gVideoFileName, NULL, NULL);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "open_input\n");
  
  
  
      //retrieve stream info
  
      avformat_find_stream_info(vs->pFormatCtx, NULL);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "find_stream_info\n");
  
  
  
      //find the video stream
  
      AVCodecContext *pcodecctx;
  
      //find the first video stream
  
      vs->videoStreamIdx = -1;
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "before loop\n");
  
  
  
      AVCodec *pcodec;
  
  
  
      vs->videoStreamIdx =  av_find_best_stream(vs->pFormatCtx, AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO, -1, -1, &pcodec, 0);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "after loop. %d\n", vs->videoStreamIdx);
  
  
  
      //get the decoder from the video stream
  
      pcodecctx = vs->pFormatCtx->streams[vs->videoStreamIdx]->codec;
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "stream selected %d, %d\n", pcodecctx != NULL ? 1 : 0, pcodecctx->codec_id);
  
  
  
      pcodec = avcodec_find_decoder(pcodecctx->codec_id);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "find_decoder\n");
  
  
  
      //open the codec
  
      avcodec_open2(pcodecctx, pcodec, NULL);
  
      __android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, TAG, "open2\n");
  
  
  
      return 0;
  
  }

  When I execute this function from my Java code the log find_decoder (after the call to the function avcodec_find_decoder) is never displayed.

  Everything is correct : pointers have correct values and pcodecctx->codec_id has a value equal to 28.
  But when avcodec_find_decoder there is nothing more, like a crash and I have no more log.

  Did I do something wrong when using and initializing FFMpeg ?

  PS : before that instead of a call to malloc, then memset I had a call to av_mallocz but I also had a crash at this point, and replacing this call by malloc and memset fixed the crash.

  EDIT

  I built FFMpeg using this script :

  #!/bin/bash
  
  NDK=/Users/me/android-ndk
  
  SYSROOT=$NDK/platforms/android-8/arch-arm/
  
  TOOLCHAIN=$NDK/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.6/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64
  
  function build_one
  
  {
  
  ./configure \
  
   --prefix=$PREFIX \
  
   --disable-shared \
  
   --enable-static \
  
   --disable-doc \
  
   --disable-ffmpeg \
  
   --disable-ffplay \
  
   --disable-ffprobe \
  
   --disable-ffserver \
  
   --disable-avdevice \
  
   --disable-doc \
  
   --disable-symver \
  
   --cross-prefix=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/arm-linux-androideabi- \
  
   --target-os=linux \
  
   --arch=arm \
  
   --enable-cross-compile \
  
   --sysroot=$SYSROOT \
  
   --extra-cflags="-Os -fpic $ADDI_CFLAGS" \
  
   --extra-ldflags="$ADDI_LDFLAGS" \
  
   $ADDITIONAL_CONFIGURE_FLAG
  
  make clean
  
  make
  
  make install
  
  }
  
  CPU=arm
  
  PREFIX=$(pwd)/android/$CPU 
  
  ADDI_CFLAGS="-marm"
  
  build_one

  EDIT 2

  Here is the output for the configuration of the build of the library

  Configured with: --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
  
  Configured with: --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
  
  install prefix            /Users/fabienhenon/android-ndk/sources/ffmpeg/android/arm
  
  source path               .
  
  C compiler                /Users/fabienhenon/android-ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.6/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-gcc
  
  C library                 bionic
  
  host C compiler           gcc
  
  host C library            
  
  ARCH                      arm (armv5te)
  
  big-endian                no
  
  runtime cpu detection     yes
  
  ARMv5TE enabled           yes
  
  ARMv6 enabled             yes
  
  ARMv6T2 enabled           yes
  
  VFP enabled               yes
  
  NEON enabled              yes
  
  THUMB enabled             no
  
  debug symbols             yes
  
  strip symbols             yes
  
  optimize for size         no
  
  optimizations             yes
  
  static                    yes
  
  shared                    no
  
  postprocessing support    no
  
  new filter support        yes
  
  network support           yes
  
  threading support         pthreads
  
  safe bitstream reader     yes
  
  SDL support               no
  
  opencl enabled            no
  
  libzvbi enabled           no
  
  texi2html enabled         no
  
  perl enabled              yes
  
  pod2man enabled           yes
  
  makeinfo enabled          yes
  
  
  
  External libraries:
  
  zlib
  
  
  
  Enabled decoders:
  
  aac         bmp         iac
  
  aac_latm        bmv_audio       idcin
  
  aasc            bmv_video       idf
  
  ac3         brender_pix     iff_byterun1
  
  adpcm_4xm       c93         iff_ilbm
  
  adpcm_adx       cavs            imc
  
  adpcm_afc       cdgraphics      indeo2
  
  adpcm_ct        cdxl            indeo3
  
  adpcm_dtk       cinepak         indeo4
  
  adpcm_ea        cljr            indeo5
  
  adpcm_ea_maxis_xa   cllc            interplay_dpcm
  
  adpcm_ea_r1     comfortnoise        interplay_video
  
  adpcm_ea_r2     cook            jacosub
  
  adpcm_ea_r3     cpia            jpeg2000
  
  adpcm_ea_xas        cscd            jpegls
  
  adpcm_g722      cyuv            jv
  
  adpcm_g726      dca         kgv1
  
  adpcm_g726le        dfa         kmvc
  
  adpcm_ima_amv       dirac           lagarith
  
  adpcm_ima_apc       dnxhd           loco
  
  adpcm_ima_dk3       dpx         mace3
  
  adpcm_ima_dk4       dsicinaudio     mace6
  
  adpcm_ima_ea_eacs   dsicinvideo     mdec
  
  adpcm_ima_ea_sead   dvbsub          metasound
  
  adpcm_ima_iss       dvdsub          microdvd
  
  adpcm_ima_oki       dvvideo         mimic
  
  adpcm_ima_qt        dxa         mjpeg
  
  adpcm_ima_rad       dxtory          mjpegb
  
  adpcm_ima_smjpeg    eac3            mlp
  
  adpcm_ima_wav       eacmv           mmvideo
  
  adpcm_ima_ws        eamad           motionpixels
  
  adpcm_ms        eatgq           movtext
  
  adpcm_sbpro_2       eatgv           mp1
  
  adpcm_sbpro_3       eatqi           mp1float
  
  adpcm_sbpro_4       eightbps        mp2
  
  adpcm_swf       eightsvx_exp        mp2float
  
  adpcm_thp       eightsvx_fib        mp3
  
  adpcm_xa        escape124       mp3adu
  
  adpcm_yamaha        escape130       mp3adufloat
  
  aic         evrc            mp3float
  
  alac            exr         mp3on4
  
  als         ffv1            mp3on4float
  
  amrnb           ffvhuff         mpc7
  
  amrwb           ffwavesynth     mpc8
  
  amv         flac            mpeg1video
  
  anm         flashsv         mpeg2video
  
  ansi            flashsv2        mpeg4
  
  ape         flic            mpegvideo
  
  ass         flv         mpl2
  
  asv1            fourxm          msa1
  
  asv2            fraps           msmpeg4v1
  
  atrac1          frwu            msmpeg4v2
  
  atrac3          g2m         msmpeg4v3
  
  aura            g723_1          msrle
  
  aura2           g729            mss1
  
  avrn            gif         mss2
  
  avrp            gsm         msvideo1
  
  avs         gsm_ms          mszh
  
  avui            h261            mts2
  
  ayuv            h263            mvc1
  
  bethsoftvid     h263i           mvc2
  
  bfi         h263p           mxpeg
  
  bink            h264            nellymoser
  
  binkaudio_dct       hevc            nuv
  
  binkaudio_rdft      hnm4_video      paf_audio
  
  bintext         huffyuv         paf_video
  
  pam         realtext        v308
  
  pbm         rl2         v408
  
  pcm_alaw        roq         v410
  
  pcm_bluray      roq_dpcm        vb
  
  pcm_dvd         rpza            vble
  
  pcm_f32be       rv10            vc1
  
  pcm_f32le       rv20            vc1image
  
  pcm_f64be       rv30            vcr1
  
  pcm_f64le       rv40            vima
  
  pcm_lxf         s302m           vmdaudio
  
  pcm_mulaw       sami            vmdvideo
  
  pcm_s16be       sanm            vmnc
  
  pcm_s16be_planar    sgi         vorbis
  
  pcm_s16le       sgirle          vp3
  
  pcm_s16le_planar    shorten         vp5
  
  pcm_s24be       sipr            vp6
  
  pcm_s24daud     smackaud        vp6a
  
  pcm_s24le       smacker         vp6f
  
  pcm_s24le_planar    smc         vp8
  
  pcm_s32be       smvjpeg         vp9
  
  pcm_s32le       snow            vplayer
  
  pcm_s32le_planar    sol_dpcm        vqa
  
  pcm_s8          sonic           wavpack
  
  pcm_s8_planar       sp5x            webp
  
  pcm_u16be       srt         webvtt
  
  pcm_u16le       ssa         wmalossless
  
  pcm_u24be       subrip          wmapro
  
  pcm_u24le       subviewer       wmav1
  
  pcm_u32be       subviewer1      wmav2
  
  pcm_u32le       sunrast         wmavoice
  
  pcm_u8          svq1            wmv1
  
  pcm_zork        svq3            wmv2
  
  pcx         tak         wmv3
  
  pgm         targa           wmv3image
  
  pgmyuv          targa_y216      wnv1
  
  pgssub          text            ws_snd1
  
  pictor          theora          xan_dpcm
  
  pjs         thp         xan_wc3
  
  png         tiertexseqvideo     xan_wc4
  
  ppm         tiff            xbin
  
  prores          tmv         xbm
  
  prores_lgpl     truehd          xface
  
  ptx         truemotion1     xl
  
  qcelp           truemotion2     xsub
  
  qdm2            truespeech      xwd
  
  qdraw           tscc            y41p
  
  qpeg            tscc2           yop
  
  qtrle           tta         yuv4
  
  r10k            twinvq          zero12v
  
  r210            txd         zerocodec
  
  ra_144          ulti            zlib
  
  ra_288          utvideo         zmbv
  
  ralf            v210
  
  rawvideo        v210x
  
  
  
  Enabled encoders:
  
  a64multi        ljpeg           prores
  
  a64multi5       mjpeg           prores_aw
  
  aac         movtext         prores_ks
  
  ac3         mp2         qtrle
  
  ac3_fixed       mp2fixed        r10k
  
  adpcm_adx       mpeg1video      r210
  
  adpcm_g722      mpeg2video      ra_144
  
  adpcm_g726      mpeg4           rawvideo
  
  adpcm_ima_qt        msmpeg4v2       roq
  
  adpcm_ima_wav       msmpeg4v3       roq_dpcm
  
  adpcm_ms        msvideo1        rv10
  
  adpcm_swf       nellymoser      rv20
  
  adpcm_yamaha        pam         s302m
  
  alac            pbm         sgi
  
  amv         pcm_alaw        snow
  
  ass         pcm_f32be       sonic
  
  asv1            pcm_f32le       sonic_ls
  
  asv2            pcm_f64be       srt
  
  avrp            pcm_f64le       ssa
  
  avui            pcm_mulaw       subrip
  
  ayuv            pcm_s16be       sunrast
  
  bmp         pcm_s16be_planar    svq1
  
  cljr            pcm_s16le       targa
  
  comfortnoise        pcm_s16le_planar    tiff
  
  dca         pcm_s24be       tta
  
  dnxhd           pcm_s24daud     utvideo
  
  dpx         pcm_s24le       v210
  
  dvbsub          pcm_s24le_planar    v308
  
  dvdsub          pcm_s32be       v408
  
  dvvideo         pcm_s32le       v410
  
  eac3            pcm_s32le_planar    vorbis
  
  ffv1            pcm_s8          wavpack
  
  ffvhuff         pcm_s8_planar       wmav1
  
  flac            pcm_u16be       wmav2
  
  flashsv         pcm_u16le       wmv1
  
  flashsv2        pcm_u24be       wmv2
  
  flv         pcm_u24le       xbm
  
  g723_1          pcm_u32be       xface
  
  gif         pcm_u32le       xsub
  
  h261            pcm_u8          xwd
  
  h263            pcx         y41p
  
  h263p           pgm         yuv4
  
  huffyuv         pgmyuv          zlib
  
  jpeg2000        png         zmbv
  
  jpegls          ppm
  
  
  
  Enabled hwaccels:
  
  
  
  Enabled parsers:
  
  aac         dvd_nav         mpegvideo
  
  aac_latm        dvdsub          png
  
  ac3         flac            pnm
  
  adx         gsm         rv30
  
  bmp         h261            rv40
  
  cavsvideo       h263            tak
  
  cook            h264            vc1
  
  dca         hevc            vorbis
  
  dirac           mjpeg           vp3
  
  dnxhd           mlp         vp8
  
  dpx         mpeg4video      vp9
  
  dvbsub          mpegaudio
  
  
  
  Enabled demuxers:
  
  aac         hevc            pcm_s32le
  
  ac3         hls         pcm_s8
  
  act         hnm         pcm_u16be
  
  adf         ico         pcm_u16le
  
  adp         idcin           pcm_u24be
  
  adx         idf         pcm_u24le
  
  aea         iff         pcm_u32be
  
  afc         ilbc            pcm_u32le
  
  aiff            image2          pcm_u8
  
  amr         image2pipe      pjs
  
  anm         ingenient       pmp
  
  apc         ipmovie         pva
  
  ape         ircam           pvf
  
  aqtitle         iss         qcp
  
  asf         iv8         r3d
  
  ass         ivf         rawvideo
  
  ast         jacosub         realtext
  
  au          jv          redspark
  
  avi         latm            rl2
  
  avr         lmlm4           rm
  
  avs         loas            roq
  
  bethsoftvid     lvf         rpl
  
  bfi         lxf         rsd
  
  bink            m4v         rso
  
  bintext         matroska        rtp
  
  bit         mgsts           rtsp
  
  bmv         microdvd        sami
  
  boa         mjpeg           sap
  
  brstm           mlp         sbg
  
  c93         mm          sdp
  
  caf         mmf         segafilm
  
  cavsvideo       mov         shorten
  
  cdg         mp3         siff
  
  cdxl            mpc         smacker
  
  concat          mpc8            smjpeg
  
  data            mpegps          smush
  
  daud            mpegts          sol
  
  dfa         mpegtsraw       sox
  
  dirac           mpegvideo       spdif
  
  dnxhd           mpl2            srt
  
  dsicin          mpsub           str
  
  dts         msnwc_tcp       subviewer
  
  dtshd           mtv         subviewer1
  
  dv          mv          swf
  
  dxa         mvi         tak
  
  ea          mxf         tedcaptions
  
  ea_cdata        mxg         thp
  
  eac3            nc          tiertexseq
  
  epaf            nistsphere      tmv
  
  ffm         nsv         truehd
  
  ffmetadata      nut         tta
  
  filmstrip       nuv         tty
  
  flac            ogg         txd
  
  flic            oma         vc1
  
  flv         paf         vc1t
  
  fourxm          pcm_alaw        vivo
  
  frm         pcm_f32be       vmd
  
  g722            pcm_f32le       vobsub
  
  g723_1          pcm_f64be       voc
  
  g729            pcm_f64le       vplayer
  
  gif         pcm_mulaw       vqf
  
  gsm         pcm_s16be       w64
  
  gxf         pcm_s16le       wav
  
  h261            pcm_s24be       wc3
  
  h263            pcm_s24le       webvtt
  
  h264            pcm_s32be       wsaud
  
  wsvqa           xa          xwma
  
  wtv         xbin            yop
  
  wv          xmv         yuv4mpegpipe
  
  
  
  Enabled muxers:
  
  a64         image2pipe      pcm_s24be
  
  ac3         ipod            pcm_s24le
  
  adts            ircam           pcm_s32be
  
  adx         ismv            pcm_s32le
  
  aiff            ivf         pcm_s8
  
  amr         jacosub         pcm_u16be
  
  asf         latm            pcm_u16le
  
  asf_stream      m4v         pcm_u24be
  
  ass         matroska        pcm_u24le
  
  ast         matroska_audio      pcm_u32be
  
  au          md5         pcm_u32le
  
  avi         microdvd        pcm_u8
  
  avm2            mjpeg           psp
  
  bit         mkvtimestamp_v2     rawvideo
  
  caf         mlp         rm
  
  cavsvideo       mmf         roq
  
  crc         mov         rso
  
  data            mp2         rtp
  
  daud            mp3         rtsp
  
  dirac           mp4         sap
  
  dnxhd           mpeg1system     segment
  
  dts         mpeg1vcd        smjpeg
  
  dv          mpeg1video      smoothstreaming
  
  eac3            mpeg2dvd        sox
  
  f4v         mpeg2svcd       spdif
  
  ffm         mpeg2video      speex
  
  ffmetadata      mpeg2vob        srt
  
  filmstrip       mpegts          stream_segment
  
  flac            mpjpeg          swf
  
  flv         mxf         tee
  
  framecrc        mxf_d10         tg2
  
  framemd5        null            tgp
  
  g722            nut         truehd
  
  g723_1          ogg         vc1
  
  gif         oma         vc1t
  
  gxf         opus            voc
  
  h261            pcm_alaw        w64
  
  h263            pcm_f32be       wav
  
  h264            pcm_f32le       webm
  
  hds         pcm_f64be       webvtt
  
  hls         pcm_f64le       wtv
  
  ico         pcm_mulaw       wv
  
  ilbc            pcm_s16be       yuv4mpegpipe
  
  image2          pcm_s16le
  
  
  
  Enabled protocols:
  
  cache           hls         rtmpt
  
  concat          http            rtp
  
  crypto          httpproxy       srtp
  
  data            md5         tcp
  
  ffrtmphttp      mmsh            udp
  
  file            mmst            unix
  
  ftp         pipe
  
  gopher          rtmp
  
  
  
  Enabled filters:
  
  aconvert        colorchannelmixer   null
  
  adelay          compand         nullsink
  
  aecho           concat          nullsrc
  
  aeval           copy            overlay
  
  aevalsrc        crop            pad
  
  afade           curves          pan
  
  aformat         dctdnoiz        perms
  
  ainterleave     decimate        pixdesctest
  
  allpass         deshake         psnr
  
  alphaextract        drawbox         removelogo
  
  alphamerge      drawgrid        replaygain
  
  amerge          earwax          rgbtestsrc
  
  amix            edgedetect      rotate
  
  amovie          elbg            scale
  
  anull           equalizer       select
  
  anullsink       extractplanes       sendcmd
  
  anullsrc        fade            separatefields
  
  apad            field           setdar
  
  aperms          fieldmatch      setfield
  
  aphaser         fieldorder      setpts
  
  aresample       format          setsar
  
  aselect         fps         settb
  
  asendcmd        framestep       showinfo
  
  asetnsamples        gradfun         showspectrum
  
  asetpts         haldclut        showwaves
  
  asetrate        haldclutsrc     silencedetect
  
  asettb          hflip           sine
  
  ashowinfo       highpass        smptebars
  
  asplit          histogram       smptehdbars
  
  astats          hue         split
  
  astreamsync     idet            swapuv
  
  atempo          il          telecine
  
  atrim           interleave      testsrc
  
  avectorscope        join            thumbnail
  
  bandpass        life            tile
  
  bandreject      lowpass         transpose
  
  bass            lut         treble
  
  bbox            lut3d           trim
  
  biquad          lutrgb          unsharp
  
  blackdetect     lutyuv          vflip
  
  blend           mandelbrot      vignette
  
  cellauto        mergeplanes     volume
  
  channelmap      movie           volumedetect
  
  channelsplit        negate          w3fdif
  
  color           noformat
  
  colorbalance        noise
  
  
  
  Enabled bsfs:
  
  aac_adtstoasc       imx_dump_header     mp3_header_decompress
  
  chomp           mjpeg2jpeg      noise
  
  dump_extradata      mjpega_dump_header  remove_extradata
  
  h264_mp4toannexb    mov2textsub     text2movsub
  
  
  
  Enabled indevs:
  
  dv1394          lavfi
  
  fbdev           v4l2
  
  
  
  Enabled outdevs:
  
  fbdev           v4l2
  
  
  
  License: LGPL version 2.1 or later

• Making Your First-Party Data Work for You and Your Customers

  11 mars, par Alex Carmona

  At last count, 162 countries had enacted data privacy policies of one kind or another. These laws or regulations, without exception, intend to eliminate the use of third-party data. That puts marketing under pressure because third-party data has been the foundation of online marketing efforts since the dawn of the Internet.

  Marketers need to future-proof their operations by switching to first-party data. This will require considerable adjustment to systems and processes, but the reward will be effective marketing campaigns that satisfy privacy compliance requirements and bring the business closer to its customers.

  To do that, you’ll need a coherent first-party data strategy. That’s what this article is all about. We’ll explain the different types of personal data and discuss how to use them in marketing without compromising or breaching data privacy regulations. We’ll also discuss how to build that strategy in your business. 

  So, let’s dive in.

  The different data types

  There are four distinct types of personal data used in marketing, each subject to different data privacy regulations.

  Before getting into the different types, it’s essential to understand that all four may comprise one or more of the following :

  Identifying data	Name, email address, phone number, etc.
  Behavioural data	Website activity, app usage, wishlist content, purchase history, etc.
  Transactional data	Orders, payments, subscription details, etc.
  Account data	Communication preferences, product interests, wish lists, etc.
  Demographic data	Age, gender, income level, education, etc.
  Geographic Data	Location-based information, such as zip codes or regional preferences.
  Psychographic Data	Interests, hobbies and lifestyle preferences.

  First-party data

  When businesses communicate directly with customers, any data they exchange is first-party. It doesn’t matter how the interaction occurs : on the telephone, a website, a chat session, or even in person.

  Of course, the parties involved aren’t necessarily individuals. They may be companies, but people within those businesses will probably share at least some of the data with colleagues. That’s fine, so long as the data : 

  • Remains confidential between the original two parties involved, and 
  • It is handled and stored following applicable data privacy regulations.

  The core characteristic of first-party data is that it’s collected directly from customer interactions. This makes it reliable, accurate and inherently compliant with privacy regulations — assuming the collecting party complies with data privacy laws.

  A great example of first-party data use is in banking. Data collected from customer interactions is used to provide personalised services, detect fraud, assess credit risk and improve customer retention.

  Zero-party data

  There’s also a subset of first-party data, sometimes called zero-party data. It’s what users intentionally and proactively share with a business. It can be preferences, intentions, personal information, survey responses, support tickets, etc.

  What makes it different is that the collection of this data depends heavily on the user’s trust. Transparency is a critical factor, too ; visitors expect to be informed about how you’ll use their data. Consumers also have the right to withdraw permission to use all or some of their information at any time.

  

  Second-party data

  This data is acquired from a separate organisation that collects it firsthand. Second-party data is someone else’s first-party data that’s later shared with or sold to other businesses. The key here is that whoever owns that data must give explicit consent and be informed of who businesses share their data with.

  A good example is the cooperation between hotel chains, car rental companies, and airlines. They share joint customers’ flight data, hotel reservations, and car rental bookings, much like travel agents did before the internet undermined that business model.

  Third-party data

  This type of data is the arch-enemy of lawmakers and regulators trying to protect the personal data of citizens and residents in their country. It’s information collected by entities that have no direct relationship with the individuals whose data it is.

  Third-party data is usually gathered, aggregated, and sold by data brokers or companies, often by using third-party cookies on popular websites. It’s an entire business model — these third-party brokers sell data for marketing, analytics, or research purposes. 

  Most of the time, third-party data subjects are unaware that their data has been gathered and sold. Hence the need for strong data privacy regulations.

  Benefits of a first-party data strategy

  First-party data is reliable, accurate, and ethically sourced. It’s an essential part of any modern digital marketing strategy.

  More personalised experiences

  The most important application of first-party data is customising and personalising customers’ interactions based on real behaviours and preferences. Personalised experiences aren’t restricted to websites and can extend to all customer communication.

  The result is company communications and marketing messages are far more relevant to customers. It allows businesses to engage more meaningfully with them, building trust and strengthening customer relationships. Inevitably, this also results in stronger customer loyalty and better customer retention.

  Greater understanding of customers

  Because first-party data is more accurate and reliable, it can be used to derive valuable insights into customer needs and wants. When all the disparate first-party data points are centralised and organised, it’s possible to uncover trends and patterns in customer behaviour that might not be apparent using other data.

  This helps businesses predict and respond to customer needs. It also allows marketing teams to be more deliberate when segmenting customers and prospects into like-minded groups. The data can also be used to create more precise personas for future campaigns or reveal how likely a customer would be to purchase in response to a campaign.

  Build trust with customers

  First-party data is unique to a business and originates from interactions with customers. It’s also data collected with consent and is “owned” by the company — if you can ever own someone else’s data. If treated like the precious resource, it can help businesses build trust with customers.

  However, developing that trust requires a transparent, step-by-step approach. This gradually strengthens relationships to the point where customers are more comfortable sharing the information they’re asked for.

  However, while building trust is a long and sometimes arduous process, it can be lost in an instant. That’s why first-party data must be protected like the Crown Jewels.

  

  Components of a first-party data strategy

  Security is essential to any first-party data strategy, and for good reason. As Gartner puts it, a business must find the optimal balance between business outcomes and data risk mitigation. Once security is baked in, attention can turn to the different aspects of the strategy.

  Data collection

  There are many ways to collect first-party data ethically, within the law and while complying with data privacy regulations, such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Potential sources include :

  Website activity	forms and surveys, behavioural tracking, cookies, tracking pixels and chatbots
  Mobile app interactions	in-app analytics, push notifications and in-app forms
  Email marketing	newsletter sign-ups, email engagement tracking, promotions, polls and surveys
  Events	registrations, post-event surveys and virtual event analytics
  Social media interaction	polls and surveys, direct messages and social media analytics
  Previous transactions	purchase history, loyalty programmes and e-receipts
  Customer service	call centre data, live chat, chatbots and feedback forms
  In-person interactions	in-store purchases, customer feedback and Wi-Fi sign-ins
  Gated content	whitepapers, ebooks, podcasts, webinars and video downloads
  Interactive content	quizzes, assessments, calculators and free tools
  CRM platforms	customer profiles and sales data
  Consent management	privacy policies, consent forms, preference setting

  Consent management

  It may be the final item on the list above, but it’s also a key requirement of many data privacy laws and regulations. For example, the GDPR is very clear about consent : “Processing personal data is generally prohibited, unless it is expressly allowed by law, or the data subject has consented to the processing.”

  For that reason, your first-party data strategy must incorporate various transparent consent mechanisms, such as cookie banners and opt-in forms. Crucially, you must provide customers with a mechanism to manage their preferences and revoke that consent easily if they wish to.

  Data management

  Effective first-party data management, mainly its security and storage, is critical. Most data privacy regimes restrict the transfer of personal data to other jurisdictions and even prohibit it in some instances. Many even specify where residents’ data must be stored.

  Consider this cautionary tale : The single biggest fine levied for data privacy infringement so far was €1.2 billion. The Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a massive fine on Meta for transferring EU users’ data to the US without adequate data protection mechanisms.

  Data security is critical. If first-party data is compromised, it becomes third-party data, and any customer trust developed with the business will evaporate. To add insult to injury, data regulators could come knocking. That’s why the trend is to use encryption and anonymisation techniques alongside standard access controls.

  Once security is assured, the focus is on data management. Many businesses use a Customer Data Platform. This software gathers, combines and manages data from many sources to create a complete and central customer profile. Modern CRM systems can also do that job. AI tools could help find patterns and study them. But the most important thing is to keep databases clean and well-organised to make it easier to use and avoid data silos.

  Data activation

  Once first-party data has been collected and analysed, it needs to be activated, which means a business needs to use it for the intended purpose. This is the implementation phase where a well-constructed first-party strategy pays off. 

  The activation stage is where businesses use the intelligence they gather to :

  • Personalise website and app experiences
  • Adapt marketing campaigns
  • Improve conversion rates
  • Match stated preferences
  • Cater to observed behaviours
  • Customise recommendations based on purchase history
  • Create segmented email campaigns
  • Improve retargeting efforts
  • Develop more impactful content

  Measurement and optimisation

  Because first-party data is collected directly from customers or prospects, it’s far more relevant, reliable, and specific. Your analytics and campaign tracking will be more accurate. This gives you direct and actionable insights into your audience’s behaviour, empowering you to optimise your strategies and achieve better results.

  The same goes for your collection and activation efforts. An advanced web analytics platform like Matomo lets you identify key user behaviour and optimise your tracking. Heatmaps, marketing attribution tools, user behaviour analytics and custom reports allow you to segment audiences for better traction (and collect even more first-party data).

  

  How to build a first-party data strategy

  There are five important and sequential steps to building a first-party data strategy. But this isn’t a one-time process. It must be revisited regularly as operating and regulatory environments change. There are five steps : 

  1. Audit existing data

  Chances are that customers already freely provide a lot of first-party data in the normal course of business. The first step is to locate this data, and the easiest way to do that is by mapping the customer journey. This identifies all the touchpoints where first-party data might be found.

  2. Define objectives

  Then, it’s time to step back and figure out the goals of the first-party data strategy. Consider what you’re trying to achieve. For example :

  • Reduce churn 
  • Expand an existing loyalty programme
  • Unload excess inventory
  • Improve customer experiences

  Whatever the objectives are, they should be clear and measurable.

  3. Implement tools and technology

  The first two steps point to data gaps. Now, the focus turns to ethical web analytics with a tool like Matomo. 

  To further comply with data privacy regulations, it may also be appropriate to implement a Consent Management Platform (CMP) to help manage preferences and consent choices.

  4. Build trust with transparency

  With the tools in place, it’s time to engage customers. To build trust, keep them informed about how their data is used and remind them of their right to withdraw their consent. 

  Transparency is crucial in such engagement, as outlined in the 7 GDPR principles.

  5. Continuously improve

  Rinse and repeat. The one constant in business and life is change. As things change, they expose weaknesses or flaws in the logic behind systems and processes. That’s why a first-party data strategy needs to be continually reviewed, updated, and revised. It must adapt to changing trends, markets, regulations, etc. 

  Tools that can help

  Looking back at the different types of data, it’s clear that some are harder and more bothersome to get than others. But capturing behaviours and interactions can be easy — especially if you use tools that follow data privacy rules.

  But here’s a tip. Google Analytics 4 isn’t compliant by default, especially not with Europe’s GDPR. It may also struggle to comply with some of the newer data privacy regulations planned by different US states and other countries.

  Matomo Analytics is compliant with the GDPR and many other data privacy regulations worldwide. Because it’s open source, it can be integrated with any consent manager.

  Get started today by trying Matomo for free for 21 days,
  no credit card required.

  Try Matomo for free

• Six Best Amplitude Alternatives

  10 décembre 2024, par Daniel Crough

  Product analytics is big business. Gone are the days when we could only guess what customers were doing with our products or services. Now, we can track, visualise, and analyse how they interact with them and, with that, constantly improve and optimise. 

  The problem is that many product analytics tools are expensive and complicated — especially for smaller businesses. They’re also packed with functionality more attuned to the needs of massive companies. 

  Amplitude is such a tool. It’s brilliant and it has all the bells and whistles that you’ll probably never need. Fortunately, there are alternatives. In this guide, we’ll explore the best of those alternatives and, along the way, provide the insight you’ll need to select the best analytics tool for your organisation. 

  Amplitude : a brief overview

  To set the stage, it makes sense to understand exactly what Amplitude offers. It’s a real-time data analytics tool for tracking user actions and gaining insight into engagement, retention, and revenue drivers. It helps you analyse that data and find answers to questions about what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.

  However, as good as Amplitude is, it has some significant disadvantages. While it does offer data export functionality, that seems deliberately restricted. It allows data exports for specific events, but it’s not possible to export complete data sets to manipulate or format in another tool. Even pulling it into a CSV file has a 10,000-row limit. There is an API, but not many third-party integration options.

  Getting data in can also be a problem. Amplitude requires manual tags on events that must be tracked for analysis, which can leave holes in the data if every possible subsequent action isn’t tagged. That’s a time-consuming exercise, and it’s made worse because those tags will have to be updated every time the website or app is updated. 

  As good as it is, it can also be overwhelming because it’s stacked with features that can create confusion for novice or inexperienced analysts. It’s also expensive. There is a freemium plan that limits functionality and events. Still, when an organisation wants to upgrade for additional functionality or to analyse more events, the step up to the paid plan is massive.

  Lastly, Amplitude has made some strides towards being a web analytics option, but it lacks some basic functionality that may frustrate people who are trying to see the full picture from web to app.

  Snapshot of Amplitude alternatives

  So, in place of Amplitude, what product analytics tools are available that won’t break the bank and still provide the functionality needed to improve your product ? The good news is that there are literally hundreds of alternatives, and we’ve picked out six of the best.

  1. Matomo – Best privacy-focused web and mobile analytics
  2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics
  3. Google Analytics – Best free option
  4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics
  5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for product analytics
  6. Heap – Best for automatic user data capture

  A more detailed analysis of the Amplitude alternatives

  Now, let’s dive deeper into each of the six Amplitude alternatives. We’ll cover standout features, integrations, pricing, use cases and community critiques. By the end, you’ll know which analytics tool can help optimise website and app performance to grow your business.

  1. Matomo – Best privacy-friendly web and app analytics

  Privacy is a big concern these days, especially for organisations with a presence in the European Union (EU). Unlike other analytics tools, Matomo ensures you comply with privacy laws and regulations, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

  Matomo helps businesses get the insights they need without compromising user privacy. It’s also one of the few self-hosted tools, ensuring data never has to leave your site.

  Matomo is open-source, which is also rare in this class of tools. That means it’s available for anyone to adapt and customise as they wish. Everything you need to build custom APIs is there.

  

  Its most useful capabilities include visitor logs and session recordings to trace the entire customer journey, spot drop-off points, and fine-tune sales funnels. The platform also comes with heatmaps and A/B testing tools. Heatmaps provide a useful visual representation of your data, while A/B testing allows for more informed, data-driven decisions.

  Despite its range of features, many reviewers laud Matomo’s user interface for its simplicity and user-friendliness. 

  Why Matomo : Matomo is an excellent alternative because it fills in the gaps where Amplitude comes up short, like with cookieless tracking. Also, while Amplitude focuses mainly on behavioural analytics, Matomo offers both behavioural and traditional analytics, which allows more profound insight into your data. Furthermore, Matomo fully complies with the strictest privacy regulations worldwide, including GDPR, LGPD, and HIPAA.

  Standout features include multi-touch attribution, visits log, content engagement, ecommerce, customer segments, event tracking, goal tracking, custom dimensions, custom reports, automated email reports, tag manager, sessions recordings, roll-up reporting that can pull data from multiple websites or mobile apps, Google Analytics importer, Matomo tag manager, comprehensive visitor tracking, heatmaps, and more.

  Integrations with 100+ technologies, including Cloudflare, WordPress, Magento, Google Ads, Drupal, WooCommerce, Vue, SharePoint and Wix.

  Pricing is free for Matomo On-Premise and $23 per month for Matomo Cloud, which comes with a 21-day free trial (no credit card required).

  Strengths

  • Privacy focused
  • Cookieless consent banners
  • 100% accurate, unsampled data
  • Open-source code 
  • Complete data ownership (no sharing with third parties)
  • Self-hosting and cloud-based options
  • Built-in GDPR Manager
  • Custom alerts, white labelling, dashboards and reports

  Community critiques 

  • Premium features are expensive and proprietary
  • Learning curve for non-technical users

  2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics

  Mixpanel is a dedicated product analytics tool. It tracks and analyses customer interactions with a product across different platforms and helps optimise digital products to improve the user experience. It works with real-time data and can provide answers from customer and revenue data in seconds.

  It also presents data visualisations to show how customers interact with products.

  

  Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

  Why Mixpanel : One of the strengths of this platform is the ability to test hypotheses. Need to test an ambitious idea ? Mixpanel data can do it with real user analytics. That allows you to make data-driven decisions to find the best path forward.

  Standout features include automatic funnel segment analysis, behavioural segmentation, cohort segmentation, collaboration support, customisable dashboards, data pipelines, filtered data views, SQL queries, warehouse connectors and a wide range of pre-built integrations.

  Integrations available include Appcues, AppsFlyer, AWS, Databox, Figma, Google Cloud, Hotjar, HubSpot, Intercom, Integromat, MailChimp, Microsoft Azure, Segment, Slack, Statsig, VWO, Userpilot, WebEngage, Zapier, ZOH) and dozens of others.

  Pricing starts with a freemium plan valid for up to 20 million events per month. The growth plan is affordable at $25 per month and adds features like no-code data transformations and data pipeline add-ons. The enterprise version runs at a monthly cost of $833 and provides the full suite of features and services and premium support.

  There’s a caveat. Those prices only allow up to 1,000 Monthly Tracked Users (MTUs), calculated based on the number of visitors that perform a qualifying event each month. Beyond that, MTU plans start at $20,000 per year.

  Strengths

  • User behaviour and interaction tracking
  • Unlimited cohort segmentation capabilities
  • Drop-off analysis showing where users get stuck
  • A/B testing capabilities

  Community critiques 

  • Expensive enterprise features
  • Extensive setup and configuration requirements

  3. Google Analytics 4 – Best free web analytics tool

  The first thing to know about Google Analytics 4 is that it’s a web analytics tool. In other words, it tracks sessions, not user behaviours in app environments. It can provide details on how people found your website and how they go there, but it doesn’t offer much detail on how people use your product. 

  There is also an enterprise version, Google Analytics 360, which is not free. We’ve broken down the differences between the two versions elsewhere.

  

  GA4’s audience overview shows visitors, sessions, session lengths, bounce rates, and user engagement data. (Image source)

   

  Why Google Analytics : It’s great for gauging the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, tracking goal completions (purchases, cart additions, etc.) and spotting trends and patterns in user engagement.

  Standout features include built-in automation, customisable conversion goals, data drill-down functionality, detailed web acquisition metrics, media spend ROI calculations and out-of-the-box web analytics reporting.

  Integrations include all major CRM platforms, CallRail, DoubleClick DCM, Facebook, Hootsuite, Marketo, Shopify, VWO, WordPress, Zapier and Zendesk, among many others.

  Pricing is free for the basic version (Google Analytics 4) and scales based on features and data volume. The advanced features (in Google Analytics 360) are pitched at enterprises, and pricing is custom.

  Strengths

  • Free to start
  • Multiple website management
  • Traffic source details
  • Up-to-date traffic data

  Community critiques 

  • Steep learning curve 
  • Data sampling

  4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics

  A fully configured Adobe Analytics implementation is the Swiss army knife of analytics tools. It begins with web analytics, adds product analytics, and then wraps it up nicely with predictive analytics.

  Unlike all the Amplitude alternatives here, there’s no free version. Adobe Analytics has a complicated pricing matrix with options like website analytics, marketing analytics, attribution, and predictive analytics. It also has a wide range of customisation options that will appeal to large businesses. But for smaller organisations, it may all be a bit too much.

  Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

  

  Adobe Analytics’ cross-channel attribution ties actions from different channels into a single customer journey. (Image source)

   

  Why Adobe Analytics : For current Adobe customers, this is a logical next step. Either way, Adobe Analytics can combine, evaluate, and analyse data from any part of the customer journey. It analyses that data with predictive intelligence to provide insights to enhance customer experiences.

   

  Standout features include AI-powered prediction analysis, attribution analysis, multi-channel data collection, segmentation and detailed customer journey analytics, product analytics and web analytics.

   

  Integrations are available through the Adobe Experience Cloud Exchange. Adobe Analytics also supports data exchange with brands such as BrightEdge, Branch.io, Google Ads, Hootsuite, Invoca, Salesforce and over 200 other integrations.

   

  Pricing starts at $500 monthly, but prospective customers are encouraged to contact the company for a needs-based quotation.

   

  Strengths

  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • Flexible segmentation 
  • Easy-to-create conversion funnels
  • Threshold-based alerts and notifications

  Community critiques 

  • No free version
  • Lack of technical support
  • Steep learning curve

  5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for web analytics

  The second of our open-source analytics solutions is Umami, a favourite in the software development community. Like Matomo, it’s a powerful and privacy-focused alternative that offers complete data control and respects user privacy. It’s also available as a cloud-based freemium plan or as a self-hosted solution.

   

  

  Umami’s dashboard reveals the busiest times of day and which pages are visited when.(Image source)

   

  Why Umami : Unami has a clear and simple user interface (UI) that lets you measure important metrics such as page visits, referrers, and user agents. It also features event tracking, although some reviewers complain that it’s quite limited.

  Standout features can be summed up in five words : privacy, simplicity, lightweight, real-time, and open-source. Unami’s UI is clean, intuitive and modern, and it doesn’t slow down your website. 

  Integrations include plugins for VuePress, Gatsby, Craft CMS, Docusaurus, WordPress and Publii, and a module for Nuxt. Unami’s API communicates with Javascript, PHP Laravel and Python.

  Pricing is free for up to 100k monthly events and three websites, but with limited support and data retention restrictions. The Pro plan costs $20 a month and gives you unlimited websites and team members, a million events (plus $0.00002 for each event over that), five years of data and email support. Their Enterprise plan is priced custom.

  Strengths

  • Freemium plan
  • Open-source
  • Lightweight 

  Community critiques 

  • Limited support options
  • Data retention restrictions
  • No funnel functionality

  6. Heap – Best for automatic data capture

  Product analytics with a twist is a good description of Heap. It features event auto-capture to track user interactions across all touchpoints in the user journey. This lets you fully understand how and why customers engage with your product and website. 

  Using a single Javascript snippet, Heap automatically collects data on everything users do, including how they got to your website. It also helps identify how different cohorts engage with your product, providing the critical insights teams need to boost conversion rates.

  

  Heap’s journeys feature combines funnel and path analysis. (Image source)

   

  Why Heap : The auto-capture functionality solves a major shortcoming of many product analytics tools — manual tracking. Instead of having to set up manual tags on events, Heap automatically captures all data on user activity from the start. 

  Standout features include event auto-capture, session replay, heatmaps, segments (or cohorts) and journeys, the last of which combines the functions of funnel and path analysis tools into a single feature.

  Integrations include AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure, major CRM platforms, Snowflake and many other data manipulation platforms.

  Pricing is quote-based across all payment tiers. There is also a free plan and a 14-day free trial.

  Strengths

  • Session replay
  • Heatmaps 
  • User segmentation
  • Simple setup 
  • Event auto-capture 

  Community critiques 

  • No A/B testing functionality
  • No GDPR compliance support

  Choosing the best solution for your team

  When selecting a tool, it’s crucial to understand how product analytics and web analytics solutions differ. 

  Product analytics tools track users or accounts and record the features they use, the funnels they move through, and the cohorts they’re part of. Web analytics tools focus more on sessions than users because they’re interested in data that can help improve website usage. 

  Some tools combine product and web analytics to do both of these jobs.

  Area of focus

  Product analytics tools track user behaviour within SaaS- or app-based products. They’re helpful for analysing features, user journeys, engagement metrics, product development and iteration. 

  Web analytics tools analyse web traffic, user demographics, and traffic sources. They’re most often used for marketing and SEO insights.

  Level of detail

  Product analytics tools provide in-depth tracking and analysis of user interactions, feature usage, and cohort analysis.

  Web analytics tools provide broader data on page views, bounce rates, and conversion tracking to analyse overall site performance.

  Whatever tools you try, your first step should be to search for reviews online to see what people who’ve used them think about them. There are some great review sites you can try. See what people are saying on Capterra, G2, Gartner Peer Insights, or TrustRadius. 

  Use Matomo to power your web and app analytics

  Web and product analytics is a competitive field, and there are many other tools worth considering. This list is a small cross-section of what’s available.

  That said, if you have concerns about privacy and costs, consider choosing Matomo. Start your 21-day free trial today.

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