Methods and apparatus to measure an audience of an online media service

• US 9,451,323 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2013
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Besehanic, Jan, Ramaswamy, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
• Application Number:
  US14/140,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20150181290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 725/9, 725/11, 725/14, 725/16, 725/110
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/266 Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to measure an audience of an online media service. An example method includes requesting an access history associated with a subscriber of an online media service using a programming interface for the online media service; and determining ratings information using the access history and demographic information corresponding to the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method to determine media ratings information, comprising:

in response to determining a subscriber of an online media service is not identified in a credential database, transmitting, by executing an instruction with a processor, a first request message requesting permission for subscriber information and an access history associated with the subscriber of the online media service;

in response to receiving a response message indicative of the permission, transmitting, by executing an instruction with the processor, a second request message requesting the access history associated with the subscriber of the online media service via a programming interface for the online media service;

in response to the second request message, receiving the access history associated with the subscriber;

determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, ratings information for online media accessed via the online media service based on the access history and demographic information corresponding to the subscriber information;

projecting, by executing an instruction with the processor, the ratings information corresponding to the subscriber information to a population; and

outputting the projection.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further including obtaining an identification of the subscriber corresponding to the online media service, wherein the first request message requesting the permission requests the permission from the subscriber, and the transmitting of the second request message requesting the access history includes transmitting the identification of the subscriber via the programming interface.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the access history includes a list of the online media that has been requested by the subscriber using the online media service.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, wherein the list includes physical media and digitally-delivered media, the list identifying a media delivery type for the media in the list.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the access history includes an identification of a most recent one of the online media item requested by the subscriber using the online media service.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the access history further identifies a resume location of the most recent media item.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the determining of the ratings information includes combining media in the access history with media in media access histories of additional subscribers of the online media service.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, further including identifying the demographic information of the subscriber via the programming interface.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, further including identifying the demographic information of the subscriber from panelist information of an audience measurement entity.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a credential manager to determine whether a subscriber of an online media service is identified in a credential database;

an information retriever to;

in response to the crediting manager determining a subscriber of an online media service is not identified in the credential database, transmit a first request message requesting permission for demographic information and access history associated with the subscriber; and

after obtaining the permission, transmit a second request message requesting the access history of the subscriber of the online media service via an application programming interface of the online media service; and

a ratings generator to;

determine ratings information for at least one of online media or physical media identified in the access history based on the access history and the demographic information of the subscriber; and

project the ratings information onto a population, at least one of the credential manager, the information retriever, or the ratings generator implemented by a processor.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the credential manager is to provide an identification of the subscriber corresponding to the online media service to the information retriever, and the information retriever is to include the identification of the subscriber in the second request message requesting the access history via the programming interface.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the credential manager is to receive permission from the subscriber to collect the access history.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the information retriever is to retrieve the demographic information from panelist information of an audience measurement entity.

14. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

in response to determining a subscriber is not in a credential database, transmit a first request message requesting subscriber permission to access subscriber information and an access history associated with the subscriber;

transmit a second request message requesting the access history of the subscriber of the online media service via a programming interface for the online media service;

in response to the second request message, receiving the access history associated with the subscriber;

determine ratings information for online media accessed via the online media service based on the access history and the demographic information corresponding to the subscriber information;

project the ratings information corresponding to the subscriber information to a population of interest; and

output the projection.

15. The storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions are further to cause the machine to:

obtain an identification of the subscriber corresponding to the online media service, wherein the first request message requesting the permission requests the permission from the subscriber, and the transmitting of the second request message requesting the access history includes transmitting the identification of the subscriber via the programming interface.

16. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the access history includes a list of the online media that has been requested by the subscriber using the online media service.

17. The storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the determining of the ratings information includes combining media in the access history with media in media access histories of additional subscribers of the online media service.

18. The storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to identify the demographics information via the programming interface.

19. The storage medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to identify the demographics information from panelist information of an audience measurement entity.