Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to estimate local market audiences of media content

1. An electronic apparatus for audience measurement, the electronic apparatus comprising:

memory including computer readable instructions; and

processor circuitry to execute the computer readable instructions to at least:

determine a first audience metric based on set-top box return path tuning data obtained from a plurality of set-top boxes located in a first geographic area,

determine a second audience metric from a portion of audience measurement data corresponding to a second geographic area different from the first geographic area, the portion of the audience measurement data associated with monitored sites in the second geographic area having second set-top box characteristics that correspond with first set-top box characteristics of the plurality of set-top boxes located in the first geographic area,

determine a plurality of ratios of respective first audience metrics determined for respective demographic stratifications to corresponding second audience metrics determined for the respective demographic stratifications, and

combine the plurality of ratios after multiplication with third audience metrics determined, for the respective demographic stratifications, from the audience measurement data to determine an audience exposure metric that estimates exposure to media in the first geographic area.

2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the audience measurement data is second audience measurement data, and the processor circuitry is to weight first audience measurement data associated with the second geographic area, the processor circuitry to weight the first audience measurement data based on population data associated with the first geographic area to form the second audience measurement data.

3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first geographic area is associated with a local audience located in a local market, and the second geographic area is associated with a national audience of the media.

4. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the audience exposure metric includes at least one of an audience population estimate of a number of persons in the first geographic area that have been exposed to the media, or an audience ratings estimate of a percentage of persons in the first geographic area that have been exposed to the media.

5. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the audience measurement data is second audience measurement data, and the processor circuitry is to adjust the plurality of ratios based on first audience measurement data associated with the first geographic area and that is different from the set-top box return path tuning data.

6. The electronic apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of ratios includes a first ratio, and the processor circuitry is to:

raise the first ratio to a power to determine an adjusted ratio, and scale the adjusted ratio by a gain value, the power and the gain value to be determined based on the first audience measurement data.

7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the respective ones of the plurality of ratios are limited to be between a lower limit and an upper limit.

8. An electronic apparatus for audience measurement, the electronic apparatus comprising:

memory including computer readable instructions; and

processor circuitry to execute the computer readable instructions to at least:

determine a first audience metric based on audience measurement data associated with a second geographic area different from a first geographic area,

determine a second audience metric from a portion of the audience measurement data identified to be associated with monitored sites in the second geographic area having second set-top box characteristics that correspond with first set-top box characteristics of a plurality of set-top boxes located in the first geographic area;

determine a plurality of ratios of respective first audience metrics determined for respective demographic stratifications to corresponding second audience metrics determined for the respective demographic stratifications, and

combine the plurality of ratios after multiplication with third audience metrics determined, for the respective demographic stratifications, from set-top box return path tuning data to determine an audience exposure metric that estimates exposure to media in the first geographic area, the set-top box return path tuning data obtained from the plurality of set-top boxes located in the first geographic area.

9. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the audience measurement data is second audience measurement data, and the processor circuitry is to weight first audience measurement data associated with the second geographic area, the processor circuitry to weight the first audience measurement data based on population data associated with the first geographic area to form the second audience measurement data.

10. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first geographic area is associated with a local audience located in a local market, and the second geographic area is associated with a national audience of the media.

11. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the audience exposure metric includes at least one of an audience population estimate of a number of persons in the first geographic area that have been exposed to the media, or an audience ratings estimate of a percentage of persons in the first geographic area that have been exposed to the media.

12. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein to combine the plurality of ratios, the processor circuitry is to:

multiply respective ones of the plurality of ratios by corresponding ones of the third audience metrics to determine fourth audience metrics, and

sum the fourth audience metrics to determine the audience exposure metric.

13. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of ratios includes a first ratio, and the processor circuitry is to combine a second ratio, a third ratio and a fourth ratio to determine the first ratio.

14. The electronic apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the second ratio includes a fifth ratio of the first audience metric to a number of audience members, the third ratio includes a sixth ratio of the number of audience members to a number of households, and the fourth ratio includes a seventh ratio of the number of household to the second audience metric.

15. An electronic apparatus for audience measurement, the electronic apparatus comprising:

memory including computer readable instructions; and

processor circuitry to execute the computer readable instructions to at least:

weight audience measurement data associated with a first geographic area based on population data associated with a second geographic area different from the first geographic area to form weighted data,

determine a plurality of ratios of respective first audience metrics determined, for respective demographic stratifications, from set-top box return path tuning data associated with the second geographic area to corresponding second audience metrics determined, for the respective demographic stratifications, from corresponding cutback portions of the audience measurement data identified to be associated with monitored sites in the first geographic area having first set-top box characteristics that correspond with second set-top box characteristics of set-top box equipment that provided the set-top box return path tuning data, and

combine the plurality of ratios after multiplication with third audience metrics determined, for the respective demographic stratifications, from the weighted data to determine an audience exposure metric that estimates exposure to media in the second geographic area.

16. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first geographic area is associated with a national audience of the media, and the second geographic area is associated with a local audience located in a local market.

17. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor circuitry is to:

obtain a subset of the audience measurement data, and

weight the subset based on a target demographic group represented in the population data, a target program, a target date, and a target time-of-day.

18. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein to combine the plurality of ratios, the processor circuitry is to:

multiply respective ones of the plurality of ratios by corresponding ones of the third audience metrics to determine fourth audience metrics, and

sum the fourth audience metrics to determine the audience exposure metric.

19. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor circuitry is to:

impute characteristics of the set-top box return path tuning data,

add cutback indicators to the weighted data,

determine a demographic audience metric using the weighted data,

determine a cutback audience metric using a portion of the weighted data having a cutback indicator selected based on the set-top box return path tuning data,

determine a set-top box audience metric using the set-top box return path tuning data, and

combine the demographic audience metric, the cutback audience metric and the set-top box audience metric to form the audience exposure metric.

20. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the audience measurement data is first audience measurement data, and the processor circuitry is to adjust the audience exposure metric based on second audience measurement data associated with the second geographic area and that is different from the set-top box return path tuning data.