Methods and apparatus to determine a duration of media presentation based on tuning session duration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12501090-B2
Application number	US-202418813372-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2024
Priority date	Oct 8, 2015
Publication date	Dec 16, 2025
Grant date	Dec 16, 2025

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine a duration of media presentation based on tuning session duration. Example apparatus a receiver to obtain a first tuning session duration indicative of an amount of time between channel changes of a first media presentation device at a first media presentation location, a presentation session estimator to select a model from storage, the model selected based on a match of the first tuning session duration and a second tuning session duration, the model including a relation between the second tuning session duration and a first presentation session duration of media presented on a second media presentation device at a second media presentation location, and estimate a second presentation session duration of media presented within the first tuning session duration based on the model.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for generating enhanced-accuracy audience measurement data for a particular media, comprising:
receiving a first set of viewing data from a first plurality of set-top boxes displaying the particular media to a respective first plurality of televisions, the first set of viewing data comprising:
a first set of tuning session data indicative of a first set of tuning session durations; and
a first set of on-off session data indicative of a first set of on-off durations corresponding to the first set of tuning session durations;
generating, based on the first set of viewing data, a model for determining estimated presentation session durations from known tuning session durations, by:
dividing the first set of viewing data into a plurality of tuning session duration ranges;
for a tuning session duration range of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges:
determining a corresponding frequency distribution of on-off durations for each first viewing data entry with a tuning session duration in the tuning session duration range; and
calculating, from the corresponding frequency distribution of on-off durations, a corresponding expected presentation session duration for the tuning session duration range; and

combining the corresponding expected presentation session duration for at least a portion of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges to generate the model;
receiving a second set of viewing data from a second plurality of set-top boxes displaying the particular media on a respective second plurality of televisions, the second set of viewing data comprising:
a second set of tuning session data indicative of a second set of tuning session durations without corresponding on-off durations;
transforming the second set of viewing data into an enhanced second set of viewing data by:
for each second viewing data entry of the second set of viewing data:
using the model to determine an estimated presentation session duration from a turning session duration of each second viewing data entry; and
enhancing each second viewing data entry with the estimated presentation session duration; and

presenting, on a display, the enhanced-accuracy audience measurement data including the first set of viewing data and the enhanced second set of viewing data.

2 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein generating the model further comprises:
for the tuning session duration range of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges:
determining a corresponding conditional distribution of the on-off durations for each first viewing data entry with the tuning session duration in the tuning session duration range; and
calculating, from the corresponding conditional distribution of the on-off durations, the corresponding expected presentation session duration for the tuning session duration range.

3 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the enhanced-accuracy audience measurement data is generated for a plurality of media using the model for the particular media.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a third set of viewing data from a third plurality of set-top boxes displaying an additional particular media to a respective third plurality of televisions, the third set of viewing data comprising:
a third set of tuning session data indicative of a third set of tuning session durations; and
a third set of on-off session data indicative of a third set of on-off durations corresponding to the third set of tuning session durations;
generating, based on the third set of viewing data, an additional model for determining additional estimated presentation session durations from additional known tuning session durations, by:
dividing the third set of viewing data into a plurality of additional tuning session duration ranges;
for an additional tuning session duration range of the plurality of additional tuning session duration ranges:
determining a corresponding additional frequency distribution of additional on-off durations for each third viewing data entry with an additional tuning session duration in the additional tuning session duration range; and
calculating, from the corresponding additional frequency distribution of additional on-off durations, a corresponding additional expected presentation session duration for the additional tuning session duration range; and

combining the corresponding additional expected presentation session duration for at least a portion of the plurality of additional tuning session duration ranges to generate the additional model;
receiving a fourth set of viewing data from a fourth plurality of set-top boxes displaying the additional particular media on a respective fourth plurality of televisions, the fourth set of viewing data comprising:
a fourth set of tuning session data indicative of a fourth set of tuning session durations without corresponding additional on-off durations;
transforming the fourth set of viewing data into an enhanced fourth set of viewing data by:
for each fourth viewing data entry of the fourth set of viewing data:
using the additional model to determine an additional estimated presentation session duration from an additional turning session duration of each fourth viewing data entry; and
enhancing each fourth viewing data entry with the additional estimated presentation session duration; and

presenting, on the display, the enhanced-accuracy audience measurement data including the third set of viewing data and the enhanced fourth set of viewing data.

5 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein generating the model further comprises:
for the tuning session duration range of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges:
determining a further corresponding frequency distribution of on-off durations at set viewing times for each first viewing data entry with the tuning session duration in the tuning session duration range.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
generating, based on the first set of viewing data, an additional model for determining the estimated presentation session durations from the known tuning session durations, by:
for the tuning session duration range of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges:
determining a corresponding conditional distribution of the on-off durations at the set viewing times for each first viewing data entry with the tuning session duration in the tuning session duration range; and
calculating, from the corresponding conditional distribution of the on-off durations at the set viewing times, the corresponding expected presentation session duration for the tuning session duration range; and

combining the corresponding expected presentation session duration for at least a portion of the plurality of tuning session duration ranges to generate the additional model.

7 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein calculating the corresponding expected presentation session duration for the tuning session duration range comprises:
determining a weighted average across the corresponding frequency distribution of the on-off durations.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
for each second viewing data entry of the second set of viewing data:
using the model to determine a standard deviation associated with a second tuning session duration of each second viewing data entry; and
enhancing each second viewing data entry with the standard deviation.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
for at least one second viewing data entry of the second set of viewing data:
determining a weighted average of a set of grouped frequency distributions to determine the estimated presentation session duration.

10

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Sheppard Michael
• Sullivan Jonathan
• Lipa Peter
• Terrazas Alejandro

Classifications

• H04N21/44222

  Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programmes or purchase activity (monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33) · CPC title

• H04N21/4667

  Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections · CPC title

• H04N21/252 Primary

  Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data · CPC title