IP Library Granted Patent US 8,904,419
Granted Patent B2
US 8,904,419 · App. 13/847,476 · Granted Dec 2, 2014

System and method for measuring television audience engagement

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,904,419
App. No.
13/847,476
Granted
Dec 2, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system and method are disclosed that measures audience engagement with a program based on the time a user spends viewing the program. A program's ability to retain viewers is referred to as the “stickiness” of the program. The viewership for a program is determined by the system and then compared to viewership of various other programs in order to assess the audience retention for the analyzed program as compared to the retention of the other programs. The system calculates a “stickiness index” for the program, which is a numerical representation of the analyzed program's stickiness as compared to the average of the other programs. The system may generate a report including the analyzed data and calculated stickiness index for advertisers, agencies, media sellers, or other parties that are interested in assessing viewership of the analyzed program.

Claims (26)

1. A computer implemented method for evaluating audience engagement with broadcast content, the method comprising:

receiving, on a computing system, tune data from one or more clients, each client associated with a video playback device;

analyzing the tune data in order to determine viewership data for program content that is viewed by an audience, the program content having a program length and the viewership data including an average percentage of the program content viewed by the audience;

comparing the viewership data to historical viewership data, the historical viewership data associated with other program content having an equivalent program length; and

calculating an index based on the historical viewership data, wherein the index reflects an engagement level of the program content relative to other program content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical viewership data is a regression curve constructed from viewership data for program content having one or more differing program lengths.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the regression curve is constructed based on daypart, the daypart indicating a specific time frame in which program content is broadcast.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein two or more curves are constructed, each curve representing a particular percentile characterizing the program content.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the index is determined by interpolating between the two or more curves in order to estimate historical viewership data for the program content.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received tune data is associated with broadcast content from one or more delivery platforms.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising scaling the index for the one or more delivery platforms.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical viewership data is determined for a set of program content, the set of program content sharing one or more attributes.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the attributes include any one or more of genre, broadcast platform, video playback device, time of day, day of week, length of program, broadcast channel, or network provider.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computing system to implement a method for evaluating audience engagement with broadcast content comprising:

receiving, on a computing system, tune data from one or more clients, each client associated with a video playback device;

analyzing the tune data in order to determine viewership data for program content that is viewed by an audience, the program content having a program length and the viewership data including an average percentage of the program content viewed by the audience;

comparing the viewership data to historical viewership data, the historical viewership data associated with other program content having an equivalent program length; and

calculating an index based on the historical viewership data, wherein the index reflects an engagement level of the program content relative to other program content.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the historical viewership data is a regression curve constructed from viewership data for program content having one or more differing program lengths.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the regression curve is constructed based on daypart, the daypart indicating a specific time frame in which program content is broadcast.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein two or more curves are constructed, each curve representing a particular percentile characterizing the program content.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the index is determined by interpolating between the two or more curves in order to estimate historical viewership data for the program content.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the received tune data is associated with broadcast content from one or more delivery platforms.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that cause the computing system to scale the index for the one or more delivery platforms.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the historical viewership data is determined for a set of program content, the set of program content sharing one or more attributes.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the attributes include any one or more of genre, broadcast platform, video playback device, time of day, day of week, length of program, broadcast channel, or network provider.

Assignments (10)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 2, 2026
From: BLUE TORCH FINANCE LLC
To: COMSCORE, INC.; PROXIMIC, LLC; RENTRAK, LLC (F/N/A RENTRAK CORPORATION)
Reel/Frame 075679/0830 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 16, 2025
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
To: COMSCORE, INC.
Reel/Frame 069934/0573 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 3, 2025
From: COMSCORE, INC.; PROXIMIC, LLC; RENTRAK, LLC
To: BLUE TORCH FINANCE LLC
Reel/Frame 069818/0446 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE MISSING ASSIGNMENT PAGE 1 AND 22 OMITTED PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 056547 FRAME: 0526. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Jun 6, 2022
From: STARBOARD VALUE AND OPPORTUNITY MASTER FUND LTD.
To: COMSCORE, INC.; RENTRAK CORPORATION; PROXIMIC, LLC
Reel/Frame 060922/0001 →
NOTICE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded May 6, 2021
From: COMSCORE, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 057279/0767 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 10, 2021
From: RENTRAK CORPORATION
To: COMSCORE, INC.
Reel/Frame 054868/0458 →
ASSIGNMENT FOR SECURITY - PATENTS Recorded Jan 16, 2018
From: COMSCORE, INC.; RENTRAK CORPORATION; PROXIMIC, LLC
To: STARBOARD VALUE AND OPPORTUNITY MASTER FUND LTD.
Reel/Frame 045077/0303 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded Jan 12, 2018
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: RENTRAK CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 045055/0386 →
NOTICE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded Apr 29, 2016
From: RENTRAK CORPORATION
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 038581/0741 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 14, 2014
From: VINSON, MICHAEL; GOERLICH, BRUCE; LOPER, MARIA; MARTIN, MELISSA; YAZDANI, AMIR
To: RENTRAK CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033305/0112 →