AFFINITY PROFILE SYSTEM AND METHOD

1 . A computer-implemented method of using affinity profiles to obtain audience segments, the method comprising:

obtaining affinity profiles for a plurality of users of a content distribution system, wherein each affinity profile comprises at least one selected affinity category or affinity category score, and the affinity categories are selected from a stored set of affinity categories, each representing a user's affinity for a respective subject area; and

categorizing each user into one or more of a plurality of user segments based on their affinity profile.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the user segments represent at least one of: an area of interest or a combination of areas of interest, a demographic category; an amount of viewing or other consumption of content; a time period when consumption of content is most likely.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each user is assigned to at least one segment or to a plurality of segments.

4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising selecting at least one user segment, or a combination of user segments, that are most likely to consume a selected item of content.

5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising selecting at least one user segment, or a combination of user segments, that are most likely to consume content during a selected time period.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises determining a bespoke user segment for a selected item of content based on metadata associated with the selected item of content, and assigning users to the bespoke user segment based on at least the affinity profiles of the users.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

for each of a plurality of user devices, monitoring user activity including identifying content selected for viewing by the users of the user devices;

obtaining metadata concerning the selected items of content, the metadata representing at least some properties of the selected items of content;

generating or updating user records for the users, the user records comprising or representing the user activity and/or the associated content metadata;

processing the user records to generate the affinity profiles for the users based on the user records.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the item of content is provided to user devices of the users using a content distribution system, wherein each user device displays an electronic programme guide (EPG) or other user interface that is operable by a user to select one or more items of television or other content, and in response to the selections the distribution system distributes the selected items of television content or other content to the user devices for viewing by the users during content viewing sessions.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the user interface is operable by a user to select one or more items of content of content types other than television content,

the obtaining of metadata, the generating or updating of the user record, and the processing of the user record to generate the affinity profile are performed using the content metadata obtained for both selected items of television content and selected items of content of the other content types, and

the other content types comprises at least one of computer games, books, music, spoken word content, other audio content, newspapers, or magazines.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the categorizing each user into one or more of the plurality of user segments is based on the user records of the users.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the affinity profiles is independent of, or is performed without taking into account, data representing socio-economic or demographic status of the users.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of a), b) or c):

a) the user record for each user does not include any data representing socio-economic or demographic status of the user;

b) the user record for each user is anonymous;

c) the obtaining of metadata, the generating or updating of user records, and the processing of the user records to generate affinity profiles are performed by processing circuitry that does not have access to at least one of or all of data representing socio-economic or demographic status of the users or identity of the users.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:

the stored set of affinity categories comprises at least 100 affinity categories or sub-categories;

the metadata concerning the selected items of content is obtained from a stored ontology that includes at least 10,000 features that can be used as meta data to represent items of content.

14 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the user record comprises or represent user activity for different time windows during a day or week, and the method comprises generating different affinity profiles for the user for the different time windows.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the affinity profile for each user comprises a set of scores, each score being for a respective one of the affinity categories.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each user is a user account, a plurality of individuals may have access to the user account and/or wherein a plurality of user devices may be associated with the user account, and wherein the affinity profile for the user account is based on selection of content by the plurality of individuals and/or using the plurality of user devices.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising selecting additional television content or other content to push to the user based on the determined affinity profile for the user.

18 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising outputting the affinity profiles for the plurality of users and/or the audience category, via an API or operator interface thereby making the affinity profiles available to a third party external to the content distribution system.

19 . A system comprising processing circuitry configured to:

obtain affinity profiles for a plurality of users of a content distribution system, wherein each affinity profile comprises at least one selected affinity category or affinity category score, and the affinity categories are selected from a stored set of affinity categories, each representing a user's affinity for a respective subject area; and

categorize each user into one or more of a plurality of user segments based on their affinity profile.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium that comprises computer-readable instructions that are executable to perform a method according to claim 1 .