Audience Measurement Modeling for Convergent Broadcasting and IPTV Networks

Audience research is a vital part of TV and radio broadcasting, as well as of the more recent forms of media content delivery, such as the Internet, IPTV, mobile phones, Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and portable media viewers. The uses of audience research range from self-promotion to refining service offerings and setting advertising rates. Without reliable audience data, many businesses will be reluctant to participate in the new platforms. This paper describes an end-to-end system for convergent audience measurement focused on IPTV but covering also terrestrial, cable, satellite and mobile broadcasting. We created the audience measurement system from the elaboration of a logical architectural model and a common data model which can be applied to any media scenario. We implemented this logical and data model in stationary and mobile media receivers (in the paper the particular case of IPTV is extensively explained). In addition user consumption is modeled and metrics are provided for user media consumption profiling and impact quantification in IPTV environments.