Estimating volume of switching among television programs for an audience measurement panel
Disclosed example apparatus to determine volume of switching (VoS) among television programs examine first viewing data associated with a first time period and second viewing data associated with a second time period to identify a first set of panelists represented in both the first and second viewing data; in response to a size of the first set of panelists satisfying both first and second thresholds, estimate the VoS based on a first subset of the first viewing data and a second subset of the second viewing data associated with the first set of panelists; and in response to the size of the first set of panelists satisfying the first but not the second threshold, estimate the VoS based on the first and second subsets, and a third subset of the first viewing data and a fourth subset of the second viewing data associated with a second set of panelists.
1. An apparatus to determine volume of switching among television programs, the apparatus comprising:
memory including computer readable instructions; and
a processor to execute the instructions to at least:
examine first viewing data associated with a first measurement time period and second viewing data associated with a second measurement time period to identify a first set of panelists represented in both the first viewing data and the second viewing data, a first one of a plurality of panelists to be included in the first set of panelists when (i) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with first data in the first viewing data for at least a threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, and (ii) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with second data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
include a second one of the plurality of panelists in a second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists when (i) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, or (ii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period, but (iii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is not associated with both third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period and fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
in response to a size of the first set of panelists satisfying both a first threshold and a second threshold, estimate the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on a first subset of the first viewing data associated with the first set of panelists and a second subset of the second viewing data associated with the first set of panelists; and
in response to the size of the first set of panelists satisfying the first threshold but not satisfying the second threshold, estimate the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on the first subset, the second subset, a third subset of the first viewing data associated with the second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists, and a fourth subset of the second viewing data associated with the second set of panelists.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second threshold is larger than the first threshold.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is not to estimate the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period in response to a determination that the size of the first set of panelists does not satisfy the first threshold.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to determine a first volume of switching value associated with one of the first set of panelists, the first volume of switching value to represent a portion of a decrease in viewing of a first television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period to attribute to an increase in viewing of a second television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is to determine the first volume of switching value by scaling the decrease in viewing of the first television program by a ratio of (i) the increase in viewing of the second television program to (ii) a total increase in viewing of ones of the television programs having increased viewing from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.
6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
examine first viewing data associated with a first measurement time period and second viewing data associated with a second measurement time period to identify a first set of panelists represented in both the first viewing data and the second viewing data, a first one of a plurality of panelists to be included in the first set of panelists when (i) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with first data in the first viewing data for at least a threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, and (ii) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with second data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
include a second one of the plurality of panelists in a second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists when (i) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, or (ii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period, but (iii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is not associated with both third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period and fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
in response to a size of the first set of panelists satisfying both a first threshold and a second threshold, estimate a volume of switching among television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on a first subset of the first viewing data associated with the first set of panelists and a second subset of the second viewing data associated with the first set of panelists; and
in response to the size of the first set of panelists satisfying the first threshold but not satisfying the second threshold, estimate the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on the first subset, the second subset, a third subset of the first viewing data associated with the second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists, and a fourth subset of the second viewing data associated with the second set of panelists.
7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the second threshold is larger than the first threshold.
8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor not to estimate the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period in response to a determination that the size of the first set of panelists does not satisfy the first threshold.
9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine a first volume of switching value associated with one of the first set of panelists, the first volume of switching value to represent a portion of a decrease in viewing of a first television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period to attribute to an increase in viewing of a second television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.
10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine the first volume of switching value by scaling the decrease in viewing of the first television program by a ratio of (i) the increase in viewing of the second television program to (ii) a total increase in viewing of ones of the television programs having increased viewing from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.
11. A method to determine volume of switching among television programs, the method comprising:
examining first viewing data associated with a first measurement time period and second viewing data associated with a second measurement time period to identify a first set of panelists represented in both the first viewing data and the second viewing data, a first one of a plurality of panelists to be added to the first set of panelists when (i) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with first data in the first viewing data for at least a threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, and (ii) the first one of the plurality of panelists is associated with second data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
adding a second one of the plurality of panelists to a second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists when (i) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period, or (ii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is associated with fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period, but (iii) the second one of the plurality of panelists is not associated with both third data in the first viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the first measurement time period and fourth data in the second viewing data for at least the threshold percentage of the second measurement time period;
in response to a size of the first set of panelists satisfying both a first threshold and a second threshold, estimating the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on a first subset of the first viewing data associated with the first set of panelists and a second subset of the second viewing data associated with the first set of panelists; and
in response to the size of the first set of panelists satisfying the first threshold but not satisfying the second threshold, estimating the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period based on the first subset, the second subset, a third subset of the first viewing data associated with the second set of panelists different from the first set of panelists, and a fourth subset of the second viewing data associated with the second set of panelists.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second threshold is larger than the first threshold, and further including not estimating the volume of switching among the television programs from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period in response to a determination that the size of the first set of panelists does not satisfy the first threshold.
13. The method of claim 11 , further including determining a first volume of switching value associated with one of the first set of panelists, the first volume of switching value to represent a portion of a decrease in viewing of a first television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period to attribute to an increase in viewing of a second television program from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the first volume of switching value includes scaling the decrease in viewing of the first television program by a ratio of (i) the increase in viewing of the second television program to (ii) a total increase in viewing of ones of the television programs having increased viewing from the first measurement time period to the second measurement time period.