App Review Analysis

IMDb vs Fandango

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Users often leave reviews for apps they like to share their experiences. The purpose of this project is to analyze app reviews. I am particularly interested in apps related to movies, so I selected two popular ones: IMDb and Fandango. I scraped publicly available user reviews for these two apps. My goal is to analyze and compare them to understand user experiences better.

PROBLEMS

KEY QUESTIONS

How users leave reviews for apps?
What are their needs and pain points?
What are the experience of each app look like?
What are insights for improving the app?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

Understand the review data and review related to time
Understand users' needs and pains, identify opportunities from reviews
Analysis review data to understanding user experience of app
Combine all the aspects to identify key opportunities

RESEARCH METHOD

Basic Exploration Analysis
Time-based Analysis
Sentiment Analysis
Language Pattern Analysis
Developer Response Analysis

CODING PLATFORM

Python

DATA OVERVIEW

Columns For IMDb：

title: Title of the review.
rating: Numeric rating given by the user (likely from 1 to 5).
isEdited: Whether the review has been edited or not.
review: Text of the user's review.
userName: Username of the reviewer.
date: Timestamp of when the review was posted.
developerResponse: Response from the developer, if any.
app_name: Name of the app being reviewed and it is same for 'imdb-movies-tv-shows'
app_id: ID of the app. which is the same for all entries: 342792525

Columns For Fandango:

- title: The title of the review.
- rating: The user's rating, ranging from 1 to 5 (integer).
- isEdited: Boolean indicating whether the review was edited.
- review: The text of the review.
- userName: The username of the reviewer.
- date: The date the review was posted, formatted as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.
- developerResponse: The response from the developer, if any, mostly null but some are JSON objects containing an ID and response body.
- app_name: The name of the app, which is 'fandango-movies' for all entries.
- app_id: The application ID, which is the same (307906541) for all entries.

RATING ANALYSIS

EXPLORATION ANALYSIS OF RATINGS

Rating Statistics Summary for IMDb:

- Total Entries: 41,580 rows
- Mean Rating: 4.62
- Standard Deviation: 0.96
- Minimum Rating: 1
- 25% : 5
- 50% : 5
- 75%: 5
- Maximum Rating: 5
- Distribution shows strong positive skewness (most ratings are high)

Rating Statistics Summary for Fandango:

- Total Entries: 23,540 rows
- Mean Rating: 4.41
- Standard Deviation: 1.21
- Minimum Rating: 1
- 25% : 4
- 50% : 5
- 75%: 5
- Maximum Rating: 5
- Ratings are skewed towards the higher end, with 50% of ratings at the maximum of 5.

IMDb vs Fandango: Distribution of Ratings

Rating Volume:

IMDb received significantly more 5-star ratings and slightly more 4-star ratings compared to Fandango, as shown in the frequency graph.

Distribution Pattern:

The overall rating patterns for both apps are quite similar, with a strong tendency towards the highest rating, indicating high levels of user satisfaction. This is evident in the percentage graph.

IMDb vs Fandango: Distribution of Review length and Rating

Most reviews on both IMDb and Fandango are medium-length (51-300 characters) and are generally positive (5 stars).
Short reviews (0-50 characters) also tend to be 5 stars on both platforms.
Very long reviews (over 500 characters) are rare but still tend to be positive (5 stars).
IMDb has slightly more 4-star ratings in the medium-length reviews compared to Fandango.

TIME-BASED ANALYSIS OF RATINGS

Average Monthly Ratings Over Time for IMDb

Early Fluctuations (2011-2012): Ratings varied a lot, with some months very high and others quite low, indicating initial instability or mixed user experiences.
Stable High Ratings (2012-2013): Ratings became more stable and mostly high, suggesting the app might have undergone improvements.
Periodic Drops (2013-2015): There were several drops in ratings, especially around 2015, where ratings briefly fell below 3.0, indicating user dissatisfaction due to bugs, changes in the app, or other issues.
Fluctuations with a Decline (2016-2018): Ratings fluctuated more and generally declined, but mostly stayed above 4.0, suggesting there are recurring issues affecting user satisfaction.
Drop and Recovery (2018-2020): A sharp drop in ratings occurred around 2018, followed by a gradual recovery, likely due to addressing major issues.
Recent Trends (2020-2021): Ratings have been more up and down recently, but issues seem to be active managed, leading to recovery.

Average Monthly Ratings Over Time for Fandango

Initial Variability (2011-2012): Ratings varied significantly, with some months reaching near-perfect scores and others dropping below 3.0, indicating mixed user experiences.
Stable High Ratings (2012-2017): Ratings became more stable and consistently high, mostly around 4.5 to 5.0, suggesting improvements in the app and high user satisfaction.
Significant Drop (2018-2020): Around 2018, there is a noticeable drop in ratings, indicating a period of user dissatisfaction. Ratings show a gradual decline with more fluctuations, often dropping below 4.0, suggesting recurring issues affecting user satisfaction.
Major Drop and Recovery (2020-2021): A significant drop occurs around 2020, with ratings briefly falling to around 1.0, followed by a recovery. This suggests a major issue that was eventually resolved.
Recent Stability with Fluctuations (2021-2022): The ratings show more fluctuations but generally hover around 4.0, indicating ongoing efforts to maintain and improve user satisfaction.

IMDb vs Fandango: Monthly Average Ratings Over Time

Stability:

- IMDb: Generally more stable with ratings frequently above 4.0.
- Fandango: Less stable with more frequent drops below 4.0.

Average Ratings:

- IMDb: Maintains higher average ratings over the period, indicating better overall user satisfaction.
- Fandango: Lower average ratings due to more frequent dips, suggesting more recurring issues.

Significant Drops:

- IMDb: Occasional dips below 4.0 but quick recoveries.
- Fandango: More pronounced and frequent drops below 4.0, with some prolonged periods of lower ratings.

Monthly Rating Distribution Over Time for IMDb

High User Satisfaction Period: From around 2011 to 2013, the app received a very high number of ratings, mostly 5 stars, indicating a period of very high user satisfaction.
Decline in Ratings: After 2013, the number of ratings dropped significantly but still maintained a majority of high ratings.
Stabilized Trends: From 2014 onwards, the number of ratings has been stable but much lower than the peak, with consistent high ratings indicating sustained user satisfaction.

Monthly Rating Distribution Over Time for Fandango

High User Satisfaction Period: From around 2013 to 2016, the app received predominantly high ratings, indicating a period of high user satisfaction.
Increased Variability and Decline: After 2016, there is an increase in the number of ratings but also more variability, with a higher number of lower ratings indicating mixed user experiences.
Recent Trends: From 2018 to 2021, there is a decline in the total number of ratings and increased variability, suggesting fluctuating user satisfaction and potentially unresolved issues.

On Same Y Axis Range for Graphs: IMDb vs Fandango: Monthly Rating Distribution Over Time

IMDb vs Fandango: Monthly Rating Distribution Over Time

Rating Volume:

IMDb: Peak around 2012 with very high numbers, followed by a sharp decline and stabilization at a lower volume.
Fandango: Increasing trend until 2018, followed by fluctuations and a decline.

User Satisfaction:

IMDb: Mostly high ratings throughout, even during lower volume periods.
Fandango: High initial ratings with more variability and significant drops in recent years.

Stability:

IMDb: More stable in maintaining high ratings over time despite the drop in volume.
Fandango: More fluctuations with periods of significant drops indicating more frequent user dissatisfaction.

Recommendations for further analysis for app workers

Correlation with Updates/Events:

- Correlate peaks and valleys in ratings with related events, such as, app updates, marketing campaigns, or other significant events.

Sentiment Analysis:

- Analyze the sentiment of reviews to provide more context to the ratings trends and related events.

Investigate Anomalies:

- Further investigate time periods with unusual increases in low ratings along with related events.

REVIEW ANALYSIS

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS ON REVIEWS USE TEXTBLOB LIBRARY

Sentiments are distributed among the reviews for IMDB:

Positive: 72.08%
Neutral: 23.10%
Negative: 4.82%

Sentiments are distributed among the reviews for Fandango:

Positive: 74.79%
Neutral: 18.57%
Negative: 6.64%

Top Positive, Neutual, and Negative Reviews

I tried to examine how effectively the sentiment analysis categorized reviews into different sentiments. Overall, it is mostly accurate, but there are still some occasional mistakes. For example, " I cannot stand Rotten Tomatoes! Terrible reviews." or "I’ve used other movie apps. They are all horrible compared to fandango!!!" is rated as super negative.

Top 5 Negative Sentiment Reviews for IMDb

Review: If you could take an x-ray of entertainment, you would find IMDb. This is the blood and bones of the industry. I found this ocean of trivia because I’m one of those people that asks, “Oh, who IS that?” Annoying, maybe. But we’re out there. And this is where we go for answers. Can’t find anything to watch on TV? Go to IMDb and browse. This is a must have app!Title: EntertainmentPolarity: -1.0Rating: 4
Review: I upgraded the app, which they described as bug fixes and performance improvements. Horse crap! They now make me establish an account and sign in with a password to use the damned thing.Title: False Advertising UpgradePolarity: -1.0Rating: 4
Review: I cannot stand Rotten Tomatoes! Terrible reviews.Title: Best App For all your movie Reviews and everything about the movies.Polarity: -1.0Rating: 5
Review: This update is terrible. The search is too cumbersome now and where is the ability to share a show? I do not like this version.Title: Horrible updatePolarity: -1.0Rating: 1

Review: The drastic change in UI and requirement to select the tab containing the search (the most used item by anyone) rather than it being the default, is jarring and awful.Title: New InterfacePolarity: -1.0Rating: 1

Top 5 Negative Sentiment Reviews for Fandango

Review: I used to purchase tickets from this app, but now all I get in money from my card being on hold ! -as I clicked the purchase button , it took me to an “error” page, then I clicked on a button that said click here to see your tickets . This led me to fandango app wanting me to purchase the tickets again . I went to my bank account all and saw that money was put on hold ! I call fandango and they said they didn’t know when I would be getting my refund . WORST APP EVERTitle: Worst App Ever !!Polarity: -1.0Rating: 1
Review: I would have given no stars if that was an option. It says isn’t I don’t have an account, but I do. Then when I try to be a guest, it kicks me out and says that I have an account. The app is horrible and if you try to change time because of crappy seat selection, it makes you start all over again. And they wonder why people don’t want to go to the movies anymore.Title: Worst app everPolarity: -1.0Rating: 1
Review: I’ve used other movie apps. They are all horrible compared to fandango!!!Title: By far the best movie app in the business!!!!Polarity: -1.0Rating: 5
Review: So I gust youse’d this app it is the worst app I’ve ever got. I would like to couple of a virus please fix it so I can use the app again.Title: Worst app everPolarity: -1.0Rating: 5
Review: Bought movie tickets called before the movie started to get refund for a movie I couldn’t make so I called and was on hold 45 minuets couldn’t get hold of no one and still wouldn’t refund me for a movie I didn’t see ... horrible customer serviceTitle: HorriblePolarity: -1.0Rating: 1

Top 5 Positive Sentiment Reviews for IMDb

Review: I like the ability to build my watch list and no joke, seeing the watch options is awesome. I can always find what I want to see. My one problem is that in the streaming options, Shudder isn’t one of them. Why not add Shudder as one of your streaming options?Title: This really is cool, butPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: I use this app all the time. It has everything you need to know about movies, ratings, where movie is playing and movie star details. It also has information about TV shows and their ratings, too. Great app!Title: Fav app for moviesPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: I use IMDB probably 5 to 10 times a day while watching tv or movies. It’s the best resource forwhen I have a question about an actors name or a filming location.Title: Where I go for all my dumb tv/movie questions.Polarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: This is the best app for everything movies and TV. I’ve literally been using it for years for allinfo on tv and film plus the lists is basically how I know what to watch.Title: AmazingPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: Perfect solutions to family question: what else were they in?Title: Value able source of informationPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5

Top 5 Positive Sentiment Reviews for Fangano

Review: Fandango is so convenient in reserving tickets and seats online. If you haven’t tried it, you owe ityourself to give it a try. Their rewards program gives you points that come in to play the more you use it. Really great!Title: Wonderful appPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: There are some apps that work so well that it seems the service was designed for the app. This Fandango app is in that elite group. I've never run into a problem using the tool. That's the best compliment I can give any app.Title: Does what it was designed to doPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: Wanted to watch Star Wars. It immediately let me pick a theater and the time and the type (3D/regular) then it let me pay with Apple Pay. It automatically added it to my calendar and added it to Apple Pay. This was awesome.Title: Man that was easyPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5
Review: Thank you Fandango for being free to download!! It’s so convenient for me to look at what movies are playing at which theaters and what times! I can view options and reserve my tickets up to a week before the day! If you don’t have this app you need it!Title: Thank you FandangoPolarity: 1.0Rating: 4
Review: The ability to pay with Apple Pay is awesome!Title: Quick pay optionsPolarity: 1.0Rating: 5

5 Neutral Sentiment Reviews for IMDb

Review: Been using the app online (pc version first) then iOS for 15 years! Used to be able to type in the name of a show and the episode of in in google. Then click the link leading to IMDB app n it would bring it up right away so you could see who’s in that particular episode of the show! Now that won’t work anymore! You have to scroll all the way to the bottom, to find, more at IMDB? Plus, I hate that the search bar is at the now very bottom of the home screen! I’ve been using this app for years. Now, I have to hunt for the search bar and retype my show title and episode in that? Then I still have to scroll down to view it on IMDB ? Isn’t that what I was doing? It’s just a weird messed up update that isn’t for me! Plus now I hate that they have these huge images of the actors in the program I was looking into. Then you can scroll down, yet some more for the info you actually want? This app just keeps getting worse and worse! Plus every so often it keeps wanting me to sign in, which I don’t want to do. I understand that it’s gone towards streaming, but for those of us who don’t want to do so? Sadly, since they eliminated my favorite part, message boards, they’ve been going downhill!Title: Terrible updatePolarity: -0.016804453262786623Rating: 1
Review: If it weren’t for the fact that it is the only streaming service that has the show I’m looking for and offers it for free, I wouldn’t use it. I’ll leave the app for a minute and it will completely lose my spot in what I was watching. This is unfortunate especially considering the episodes are on the longer side so it can be hard to find my way back to where I was. Additionally, when I try to skip too far ahead in an episode after it has inevitably lost my place after I close the app for a second, it also tends to freeze up(yes I mean freeze, not buffer). As far as I know, this is not due too my connection as my internet is fine when using any other application. On several occasions, it has frozen when an ad is supposed to play. The ads are short and didn’t seem like a problem until I found myself constantly having to skip around looking for where I was after it loses my place; needless to say, this wasted a lot of time I’d rather be spending just enjoying the show. I appreciate the wide variety of shows offered here for free but the aforementioned problems really prevent me from enjoying it to the fullest.Title: Kinda BadPolarity: 0.019642857142857146Rating: 2
Review: Okay, so, iOS devices all have search bars at the top (albeit, after pulling down). We are used to it. And we are used to having a cursor in the search bar, ready to go. Now you’ve gotten rid of the search bar on the main page (searching, of course, is probably at least 85% of the reason users have the app), moved the search feature to a button tap way at the bottom, but with the search bar itself being back at the top. I know we are to “touch search again to pull up the keyboard,” but it is seriously clunky. If I touched search, it should be obvious I am trying to type my query. Since this specific app is for iOS, why not match the gestures of the operating system and have users pull down on the home page to open search *with a keyboard up? Would be such a streamlined search to appease the iPhone crowd, and the home page and its articles would still be present to those browsing. IMDB is my go-to service for movies and celebrity info, but every time I open the app makes me regret it. Please change it!Title: Love the info, hate the search featurePolarity: 0.0576388888888889Rating: 2
Review: Licensed Professional Counselor I am completely addicted to your show and as a Trump supporter and born again Christian there are many aspects I don’t agree with on prime time where small children can view if their Parent’s do not have wise discernment. I would love to audition to be the Counselor for the couple’s on the show I think that I could have helped keep a lot of couples together or at least tried to, and there are a lot of couples that may need to call it a day. My 49 year old daughter could have written for Saturday night live. She is addicted to all of your shows with me. I am on social media as Debra Marie Yunson-gulledge and Celebrate Deliverance. I have been called an old hag and old woman by the left yet I am constantly told that I don’t look my age. I am a local Gospel and Country singer. And had many years on stage as a Community Actress on Oahu where I am from. Thanks for your time had to send u this message get it off my chest so I can stop thinking about it. My husband is an 82 yr old country harmonica singer songwriter. I will send u his cd and my gospel single not mixed yet. Love love love your show thanks for this happiness thru COVID-19. Deb LPC My style of counseling is hated by conventional counselors and it would be interesting to solicit their cutting me to shreds. I am so used to it but I am still standing.Title: Debra GulledgePolarity: 0.09372294372294372Rating: 5
Review: When you look at an actor’s page, the years of the movies/shows they’ve done are removed. When you look at a movie/show page some of the actor’s role names are removed. What’s up with that? All you‘ve really done is turn the app into something less useful than it was before, degraded it. I don’t understand why people do that, it’s just stupid. I’m sure there’s a reason behind IMDb’s app design breaking bad, I just wish I knew what it is, because you can’t go so wrong by accident. This bad design is by design but why? Crucial information removed from the pages (title’s year, actor’s role names), UI’s main function (search) removed from the main page. iOS has search box literally on each and every screen, I wonder now if it would be faster and easier to search IMDb from iOS search without opening the app first, or with 3D touch on the app icon. Now when I think about it, it must be. That still doesn’t bring back the missing info misteriously removed from the pages. Maybe the web interface proves itself better than the app.Title: The app design is breaking bad bigtime.Polarity: -0.0637254901960784Rating: 1

5 Neutral Sentiment Reviews for Fangano

Review: There is a bug in the app. Watch out if you travel between time zones. I purchased my Star Wars tickets - 2 months ahead of time - while physically in a different time zone than where I live and watch the movie. In the days leading up to the showing, I double checked the time in the app several times. Even the morning of the show, when I opened the app it showed a countdown clock that my show started in an hour. But when I opened the tickets, the time the app had been showing was 2 hours off and I missed the show. 3 weeks after asking for a credit (not even a refund), I got a boilerplate response saying no credit because I waited until after the showtime to ask for a refund! How’s that for a Catch-22? I’m going to look for a different app.Title: Beware!Polarity: 0.0018939393939393923Rating: 5
Review: I recently purchased 2 tickets for Parasite knowing that there’s an exorbitant surcharge per ticket. The transaction process in this app is far from clean. The app hung when I tried to purchase, so I pressed the cancel button and went through the process again. It asked if was sure and I said yes. It then hung a second time, so I pressed cancel again figuring I’m going to either have to purchase at the theatre or online. I checked my credit card app first just to make sure the transaction(s) didn’t go through and to my surprise, both of them did! Now I’m stuck with 4 tickets and 4 exorbitant surcharges when I only wanted 2 tickets. I tried to chat with support, but the queue was too long and I had to get going to the movie. I called support and was able to get an agent, but she would only refund the ticket price and not the surcharges because they were, “non-refundable.” So let me get this straight - you charge an exorbitant surcharge, your app is broken and then you don’t refund? Ridiculous policies and horrible customer service. I will never be using this criminal outfit again. When the app hangs like that, why even offer a cancel button? When I hit cancel, it asked, “are you sure” and I said yes. Apparently it still goes through with the transaction and charges you anyway.Title: Broken and annoyingPolarity: 0.056770833333333375Rating: 1
Review: Loved fandango... But after what happened to me recently deleting and buying from theater sites directly.. Bought 2 tickets for uncut gems for 10:30 pm for Friday night and something came up last min.. Since i always buy from the app you get a coupon 5 discount. So i used it for my movie tickets. When i knew we couldn't make it i went to " cant make it" to get my refund fandango credit for another time i couldn't before i used my 5$ discount ... So only option was to talk to a agent... Well guess they were closed no agent available... So i couldn't reschedule or get my money back... So i woked up early Saturday morning to speak to an agent. Told them the situation and to my surprise he said he couldn't do anything because it was past the movie..im explain what happen and that i couldn't have done anything about it cayse they where offline no agents and he said he was sorry and that he was gonna forward it to corporate office.. Spend 30 dollars for nothing.. Got the email saying nothing they could do nor get me my refund... If you planning to buy tickets for late shows and life unexpected events prevent you from going to the movies.. Goodluck getting your money or fandango credit.... Buy from the theaters site instead... Ssve yourselfs the stress...Title: Deleting..Polarity: -0.017857142857142856Rating: 1
Review: First critique—in a recent update a notification prompt was introduced that prompts the user to turn on notifications. The responses are Maybe Later and an affirmative choice. Then the notification blocks the screen again with the same prompt multiple times in a day. Where’s the “Stop showing this” checkbox? Second critique - I admit it, I run late to movies sometimes. Or decide at the last minute I’d rather go to a movie than stay in. If the showtime is passed even 1 minute, the film showtime might still display, but a ticket can not be bought for it. Maybe studios prefer this since it ensures their trailers are seen, but I’m often willing to go to a movie 10 minutes late, if I could skip the line with the convenience Fandango advertises. It doesn’t seem to be possible though, even though my local AMC and Regal will usually sell tickets for shows that have already begun (unless sold out) with no problems. Fandango is only convenient if you plan ahead, and if I plan ahead I usually have time to get to the ticket box anyway.Title: Can’t buy a ticket for a movie that just startedPolarity: 0.0Rating: 3
Review: Regrettably we received a Fandango gift card. As a first time user, I chose my seats but somehow they were switched at purchase. So instead of getting my selected seats, I received different seats!!! I didn’t discover this until my family arrived at the theater, sat where i thought we should sit, got shuffled around, and ended up in the lobby where the manager used my credit card to discover our actual seats. Much to our disappointment, time elapsed and once the movie started, there was no hope for a refund. No movie experience is worth such frustration. I call customer service who responded three hours later. In my frustration, I shouted expletives with the customer service lady. She said that she would talk to corporate. I hung up before I could say more that I’d regret. It boils down to my lack of understanding of how to redeem a movie gift card. I’d recommend you purchase at the window or get someone who knows what they are doing. In my anger, I can’t endorse Fandango. Try Regal or another online movie app.Title: Not user friendlyPolarity: -0.09375Rating: 1

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS ON TITLES USE TEXTBLOB LIBRARY

Sentiments are distributed among the review titles for IMDB:

Positive: 62.14%
Neutral: 34.51%
Negative: 3.35%

Sentiments are distributed among the review titles for Fandango:

Positive: 58.28%
Neutral: 36.64%
Negative: 5.09%

Examples Positive, Neutual, and Negative Review Titles

I tried to examine how effectively the sentiment analysis categorized review titles into different sentiments. Overall, it is mostly accurate, but there are still some occasional mistakes. For example, "Not happy with this App" or "Not user friendly " is rated as positive somehow.

Analyze the Relationship Between Ratings and Review Text Sentiment

Positive Correlation: Both platforms show that higher ratings tend to have more positive sentiment, but this relationship is stronger for Fandango compared to IMDb. Moderate positive correlation (0.4459) for Fandango vs Weaker positive correlation (0.2746) for IMDb.
IMDb: There is a wider spread of sentiment polarity for each rating, indicating more variability in the language used in reviews across different ratings.
Fandango: The sentiment polarity is more tightly clustered around higher ratings. This means that users giving higher ratings tend to use more positive language.

Analyze the Relationship Between Ratings and Review Title Sentiment

Positive Correlation: Both platforms show that higher ratings tend to have more positive sentiment, but this relationship is stronger for Fandango compared to IMDb. Moderate positive correlation (0.4198) for Fandango vs Weaker positive correlation (0.3242) for IMDb.
IMDb: There is a wider spread of sentiment polarity for each rating, indicating more variability in the language used in review title across different ratings.
Fandango: The sentiment polarity is more tightly clustered around higher ratings. This means that users giving higher ratings tend to use more positive language.

Analyze the Relationship Between Review and Title Sentiment

Positive Correlation: Both platforms show that higher ratings tend to have more positive sentiment, but this relationship is stronger for Fandango compared to IMDb. Moderate positive correlation (0.2871) for Fandango vs Weaker positive correlation (0.1474) for IMDb.

LANGUAGE PATTEN ANALYSIS

Analyze Language Pattern of Title Text for Different Ratings

Processing Title Text:
1. Tokenization: remove punctuation, remove stopwords (ex. app)
2. Stemming and Lemmatization: Various words in English have the same meaning. There are two main methods for handling tasks such as recognizing "strike, striking, struck" as the same words. Stemming refers to the removal of suffixes, like “ing”, “ly”, “s”, etc. by a simple rule-based approach. I implemented the PorterStemmer method from nltk.

N-grams: N-grams are the combination of multiple words used together to help identify common phrases or collocations in text.

Word Cloud for Rating 1 (Negative Reviews IMDb)

Prominent Words: "update," "search," "ad," "terrible," "crashes"
Interpretation: Users giving a 1-star rating frequently mention issues with updates, search functionality, and advertisements. Words like "terrible," "crashes," and "broken" indicate significant dissatisfaction and frustration.

Word Cloud for Rating 5 (Positive Reviews IMDb)

Prominent Words: "great," "awesome," "best," "love," "perfect"
Interpretation: Users giving a 5-star rating highlight positive aspects such as the app being "great," "awesome," and "perfect." Words like "love," "useful," and "best" reflect high satisfaction and appreciation.

Word Cloud for Rating 1 (Negative Reviews Fandango )

Prominent Words: "convenience," "fee," "service," "customer," "service", "gift card"
Interpretation: Users giving a 1-star rating frequently mention issues with customer service, convenience, and fee. Words like "terrible," "error," and "horrible" indicate significant dissatisfaction and frustration.

Word Cloud for Rating 5 (Positive Reviews Fandango)

Prominent Words: "great," "love," "convenient," "awesome," "easy"
Interpretation: Users giving a 5-star rating highlight positive aspects such as the app being "great," "awesome," and "perfect." Words like "love," "useful," and "best" reflect high satisfaction and appreciation.

Top 20 Most Common Trigrams for Ratings 1, 2, and 3 (IMDB)

Back Message Board and Bring Back Message are the most frequent trigrams, indicating users with lower ratings often mentioned wanting the return of the message board feature.
Phrases like Board Gone, Search Bar, Ad Ad Ad, and Please Bring Back suggest that users are expressing dissatisfaction with the removal of certain features and the presence of ads.
Other common trigrams such as Worse Every Update, Can't Watch Anything, and App Broke show frustration with app updates and functionality issues.

Top 20 Most Common Trigrams for Ratings 4 and 5 (IMDB)

High-rated reviews are characterized by strong positive affirmations and frequent use of the app, indicating a high level of user satisfaction.

Top 20 Most Common Trigrams for Ratings 1, 2, and 3 (Fandango)

"Poor Customer Service," "Worst Customer Service," and "Horrible Customer Service" are the most frequent trigrams. This shows that users with low ratings often complain about the customer service.
Phrases like "Fandango Gift Card," "Convenience Fee," and "Can't Use Gift" suggest problems with gift cards and additional fees are common complaints.
Other frequent phrases include "Worst App Ever," "Convenience Fee Rip," and "App Doesn't Work," highlighting dissatisfaction with the app’s functionality and extra charges.

Top 20 Most Common Trigrams for Ratings 4 and 5 (Fandango)

Users frequently praise the app as the best for buying movie tickets, highlighting its convenience, ease of use, and overall positive experience.

DEVELOPER RESPONSE ANALYSIS

IMDb vs Fandango: Developer Response Rate

IMDb : The developer response rate is extremely low, with only 1.6% of reviews receiving a response. This suggests a significant opportunity for developers to improve user engagement by addressing more reviews.
Fandango: The developer response rate is low, with only 6.4% of reviews being responded to. This indicates that developers might need to engage more actively with their users.

IMDb vs Fandango: Sentiment Distribution of Developer Responses

IMDb : Developers' responses tend to be varied, with a mix of positive, neutral, and negative sentiments. Positive responses are the most frequent, but there is still a considerable number of negative responses, which might affect user perception.
Fandango: Developers predominantly provide neutral responses, which can seem impersonal or non-committal, likely because they rely on a standard, universal reply. The absence of positive responses indicates an opportunity to improve by engaging more positively with users.

IMDb vs Fandango: Distribution of Ratings for reviews with and without Developer Responses

IMDb : Graph illustrates that reviews with developer responses are mostly low-rated, around 1 to 2 stars, whereas reviews without responses are primarily high-rated, around 4.5 to 5 stars. This suggests that developers are more likely to respond to negative feedback.
Fandango: The trend is consistent with IMDb, where developer responses are mainly directed towards low ratings. This strategy aims to mitigate dissatisfaction and possibly improve user experience.

IMDb vs Fandango: Frequency of Developer Responses Over Time

Common Pattern: Both IMDb and Fandango show a significant peak in developer responses in early 2020, followed by a sharp and sustained decline. This could be due to a specific event, policy change, or shift in strategy around that time.
IMDb: Developer engagement increased steadily until early 2020, then dropped and stayed low. This indicates a potential shift in response strategy or resource allocation.
Fandango: Similar to IMDb, but with more pronounced fluctuations before the early 2020 peak. The dramatic drop to nearly zero responses suggests a significant change in approach to handling reviews and user feedback.

IMDb vs Fandango: Average Length of Developer Responses Over Time

IMDb: Developer response lengths vary considerably over time, with several peaks and troughs. This indicates a less consistent approach in how developers craft their responses, possibly reflecting varying strategies or levels of detail depending on the issue addressed.
Fandango: Developer responses are highly consistent in length, suggesting a standardized approach. This could indicate the use of template responses or a fixed style of engagement with users.

KEY INSIGHTS

Overall Ratings: IMDb has more 5-star and 4-star ratings than Fandango, indicating higher user satisfaction. Both apps show a strong preference for high ratings overall.

Ratings Time Trends: From 2010 to 2022, IMDb maintained higher average ratings, peaking around 2012, then stabilizing at a lower volume. Fandango's ratings were lower, with more frequent dips, peaking in 2018, followed by fluctuations and decline, suggesting more persistent issues.

Sentiment Analysis: Positive and neutral reviews dominate both apps. IMDb reviews display more variability in sentiment language, while Fandango's sentiments are more consistent with ratings and titles.

Language Pattern Analysis: IMDb's 1-star reviews often cite issues with the Message Board, updates, search functionality, ads, and crashes. Fandango's 1-star reviews frequently mention problems with customer service, convenience fees, and gift cards.

Developer Responses: IMDb developers respond less frequently but with varied sentiment. Fandango's developers use standard, neutral, universal replies. Both apps saw a peak in developer responses in early 2020, followed by a decline, likely due to specific events or policy changes at that time.

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