Intellect

Authors:  Els De Bens And  Katrien Berte And  Philip Leroux And  Dimitri Schuurman And  Lieven De Marez And  Filip De Turck 
DOI: 10.1386/jdtv.1.2.221_7

Keywords
return path data,interactivity,audience measurement,iDTV,

Abstract
Advanced innovations such as digital transmission technologies and personal video-recorders (PVRs) have changed TV viewing behaviour. In order to maintain their position as the world's largest advertising channel, television broadcasters are increasingly dependent on accurate and in-depth audience data. Unfortunately, the traditional measurement techniques fail to keep up with innovations of interactive digital TV (iDTV) such as video-on-demand (VOD), time shifted viewing, an electronic programme guide (EPG), ad avoidance using the PVR, etc. This article reflects on the current state of audience measurement in Europe and describes our search to tackle some of the challenges. Contrary to traditional systems that use dedicated and expensive hardware, this article presents a set-top box-only approach.