Nielsen type ratings and Rogers digital

[timlocke]

Excuse me if this has been covered before.

Seems to me that Rogers could provide very accurate ratings information from digiatl customers. The box, any of them, can report on exactly which channel is being viewed/recorded and even played back at any instant. This is easy to do, just software and is a mine of information to the networks and ad agencies.

Does anyone know if they do this?

Same applies to any cable Co but not to satellite unless the satellite box "calls home" on a land line/internet connection.

[hugh]

Asked many times. No they don't and the systems aren't in place, nor the boxes robust enough to even attempt

[57]

Although Rogers can receive the information on customer viewing habits, they use it to check viewership of certain channels (probably not by programme) and then allocate bandwidth (less to less watched channels and more to the more watched channels). Rogers have stated that they will not provide this information outside their organization (excepting government/legal request)

[timlocke]

I am very surprised that the boxes do not have enough horsepower to send a 64 byte packet ( channel No and timestamp) maybe as often as once per second.

I am less surprised that Rogers don'tgive out the information maybe they are waiting to get a good enough offer... they would have to anonomize it but thats a head office mainframe job.

Thank you for the quick replies.

[alebowgm]

Part of the issue lies that what happens when you get someone like me who leaves CNNHD on basically all day, even if the TV is off (I leave the cable box on). Then you are getting non realistic results.

[57]

I'm sure an algorithm could be written for removal of any data from that type of viewer, or someone who leaves the STB on. The algorithm could be as simple as "if STB is on same station for more than X hours, delete data".

[alebowgm]

But what if I really was watching CNNHD for 'x' hours. Say it was 6 hours. I have had timespans when the TV is on with CNNHD on in the background for that long of a period. I also have left the box unattneded for that long while CNNHD was in the background. That is the catch 22. Nielsen wants accurate ratings.

[hugh]

It's not just the box but collecting the information, minute by minute monitoring of millions of settop boxes would require a huge infrastructure and a lot of computing power and for what?

FYI: I started my career as a Radio and Television buyer and worked at the company that provides systems for the worlds biggest advertisers and agencies so I'm pretty conversant with this suff. The complexity of it all is quite staggering and at this point there is no payoff for Rogers.

[57]

Nielsen wants accurate ratings.

1. The system will not be used for Nielsen ratings, as discussed above.

2. Do you believe Nielsen gets accurate readings now?

But what if I really was watching CNNHD for 'x' hours. Say it was 6 hours.

3. Somehow I just knew you'd come back with that. The number of people who do this probably doesn't affect the data and you can always extend to say 10 hours, or have a more complex algorithm that goes over a period of days to either weed out, or properly include the person you mention.

[polaris]

I remember reading something about this a few years ago. TV networks dont want this accurate data to get out, as then advertisers have better data to make their decisions on. The fear it would impact ad sales. Less info, the worse decisions the ad buyers will make I guess.