Methods and apparatus for monitoring the insertion of local media into a program stream

1. A method comprising:

detecting, at a media device at a media presentation location, a plurality of cues in media received at the media device;

in response to the detection of at least one of the plurality of cues, receiving separately from the media an advertisement associated with a user of the media device;

presenting, by the media device, the media at a first time and the advertisement at a second time indicated by the at least one of the plurality of cues;

responsive to presenting the advertisement at the second time, recording a log including first identifying information extracted from the media including metadata identifying the content of the media, second identifying information for the advertisement, third identifying information to uniquely identify a first frame of the advertisement and a second frame of the advertisement, and fourth identifying information to identify a change in a frequency of the at least one of the plurality of cues in the media; and

transmitting the log to a data collection facility.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of cues is a Society of Cable and Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) cue.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the at least one of the plurality of cues includes extracting a watermark from the media.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the at least one of the plurality of cues includes extracting a watermark from audio of the media.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media presentation location is a household.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media device is a television.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the advertisement further includes determining the advertisement associated with a demographic associated with the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is received in a digital stream separate from transmission of the media to the media presentation location.

9. The method of claim 1 , further including splicing, at the media device, the advertisement into the media.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of cues comprises information indicating a specific location, within the received media, for insertion of an alternative advertising content, and wherein the indicated specific location within received media indicates the second time at which the advertisement is presented.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying information includes a type of the media.

12. A computer readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

detect, at a media device at a media presentation location, a plurality of cues in media received at the media device;

in response to the detection of at least one of the plurality of cues, receive separately from the media, an advertisement associated with a user of the media device;

present, by the media device, the media at a first time and the advertisement at a second time indicated by the at least one of the plurality of cues;

responsive to presenting the advertisement at the second time, record a log including first identifying information extracted from the media including metadata identifying the content of the media, second identifying information for the advertisement, third identifying information to uniquely identify a first frame of the advertisement and a second frame of the advertisement, and fourth identifying information to identify a change in a frequency of the at least one of the plurality of cues in the media; and

transmit the log to a data collection facility.

13. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of cues is a Society of Cable and Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) cue.

14. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to detect the at least one of the plurality of cues by extracting a watermark from the media.

15. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to detect the at least one of the plurality of cues by extracting a watermark from audio of the media.

16. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the media presentation location is a household.

17. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the media device is a television.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine the advertisement by determining the advertisement associated with a demographic the user.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the advertisement is received in a digital stream separate from transmission of the media to the media presentation location.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to splice, at the media device, the advertisement into the media.

21. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of cues comprises information indicating a specific location, within the received media, for insertion of an alternative advertising content, and wherein the indicated specific location within received media indicates the second time at which the advertisement is presented.

22. The computer readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the identifying information includes a type of the media.