Patent Application
20090076883
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems and methods for determining multiple dimensions of media consumers' engagement with media vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advertising agencies, marketing firms, and media broadcasters are endlessly seeking methods to better place advertisements across one or more media channels in order to increase ad sales, ad receptivity, and/or media consumer attention to the advertisements. In this regard, these entities may be interested in receiving data indicating the thoughts and feelings of media consumers in response to viewing, hearing, and/or interacting with specific media vehicles and/or groups of media vehicles.
In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving an indication of one or more media vehicles, receiving an indication of multiple media engagement dimensions, accessing survey data from a plurality of media consumers, the survey data comprising consumer responses to a plurality of statements, each of the statements being associated with one or more of the media engagement dimensions, and calculating a dimension score for each combination of an indicated media vehicle with an indicated media engagement dimension, wherein the dimension scores are based on at least the consumer responses to questions associated with the respective indicated media engagement dimension, the dimension scores being indicative of a relationship between respective indicated media vehicles and respective indicated media engagement dimensions.
In one embodiment, a method of determining an engagement score for a television program comprises accessing data regarding responses from each of a plurality of viewers of a television program to each of a plurality of statements, determining respective subsets of the plurality of statements that are associated with each of an inspirational and a trustworthy engagement dimensions, calculating an inspirational dimension score based on at least the responses associated with the subset of the statements associated with the inspirational engagement dimension, and calculating a trustworthy dimension score based on at least the responses associated with the subset of the statements associated with the trustworthy engagement dimension. In one embodiment, the method further comprises calculating a life enhancing dimension score based on at least the responses associated with a subset of the statements associated with a life enhancing engagement dimension.
In one embodiment, a system of determining a plurality of dimension scores for a media vehicle comprises a data module configured to access survey data comprising a plurality of responses of media consumers to respective of a plurality of statements associated with a media vehicle, and a scoring module configured to calculate a plurality of dimension scores for the media vehicle, each of the dimension scores indicating respective characteristics of media consumer engagement with the media vehicle, wherein for each of the plurality of dimension scores, the scoring module selects a respective subset of the plurality of responses and, based on the selected subset of response, calculates one of the plurality of dimension scores.
In one embodiment, a system for determining media consumer engagement across multiple multimedia engagement dimensions comprises means for receiving an indication of one or more media vehicles, means for receiving an indication of multiple media engagement dimensions, means for accessing survey data from a plurality of media consumers, the survey data comprising consumer responses to a plurality of statements, each of the statements being associated with one or more of the media engagement dimensions, and calculating a dimension score for each combination of an indicated media vehicle with an indicated media engagement dimension, wherein the dimension scores are based on at least the consumer responses to questions associated with the respective indicated media engagement dimension, the dimension scores being indicative of a relationship between respective indicated media vehicles and respective indicated media engagement dimensions.
In one embodiment, a method of determining media consumer engagement with each of one or more media vehicles comprises selecting one or more media vehicles, selecting multiple engagement dimensions, accessing dimension scores associated with each of the selected engagement dimensions for each of the selected media vehicles, wherein the dimension scores are based on at least media consumer responses to statements associated with respective engagement dimensions, and generating a report comprising indications of relationships between dimensions scores for the selected media vehicles in respective engagement dimensions.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying Figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elements throughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein is not intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner, simply because it is being utilized in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may include several novel features, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes or which is essential to practicing the inventions herein described.
As used herein, the term “media engagement statements” or simply “engagement statements” comprises statements and/or questions regarding specific media vehicles and/or or groups of media vehicles. Advantageously, media engagement statements are selected so that responses to the engagement statements by media consumers indicate one or more specific aspects of engagement that the media consumer experiences with reference to the media vehicle indicated in respective engagement statements. Accordingly, media responses to engagement statements from a plurality of media consumers may be analyzed in order to determine various engagement dimensions of media consumers with particular media vehicles. For example, in one embodiment the media engagement dimensions comprise one or more of an inspirational, trustworthy, life enhancing, social interaction, personal timeout, ad attention/receptivity, personal connection, near and dear, interactivity/community, enjoyment/attraction, and image impact dimensions.
Depending on the embodiment, the engagement dimensions may be titled differently, such as with synonymous terms. For example, the term “inspirational” may be replaced or supplemented with one or more of the following terms in describing the same or a similar engagement dimension: enlightening, ennobling, regenerative, stimulating, uplifting. Similarly, the term “trustworthy” may be replaced or supplemented with one or more of the following terms, for example, in describing the same or similar engagement dimension: authentic, believable, credible, ethical, honest. The term “life enhancing” may be replaced or supplemented with one or more of the following terms, for example, in describing the same or similar engagement dimension: enriching, educational. The term “social interaction” may be replaced or supplemented with one or more of the following terms, for example, in describing the same or similar engagement dimension: socializing, conversational. The term “personal timeout” may be replaced or supplemented with the term “me-time,” for example, in describing the same or similar engagement dimension.
In one embodiment, dimension scores generated for the above-noted engagement dimensions generally indicate a level of accuracy of the following respective dimension statements, for example:
In the embodiment of
In one embodiment the media consumer's provide responses to engagement statements via computerized devices, such as mobile computing devices or desktop computers, for example, while in other embodiments the responses 110 are in written form and are converted to digital data via computerized recognition of responses and/or human review of the engagement surveys. Thus, the responses 110 may be communicated via electronic means from a survey location, from a survey provider location, or the responses 110 may be digitized by an operator, or affiliate, of the media engagement system 150. Various other methods of conducting surveys are known in the art and are contemplated for use in conjunction with the systems and methods described herein.
In an advantageous embodiment, the media engagement system 150 accesses at least some of the responses 110 in order to determine multiple dimensions of engagement exhibited by the media consumers responding to the media engagement statements. As noted above, the media engagement dimensions for respective media vehicles may comprise one or more of an inspirational, trustworthy, life enhancing, social interaction, personal timeout, and ad attention/receptivity dimension. Thus, the media engagement system 150 may determine specific dimension scores indicative of media consumers' engagement with a particular, or group of, media vehicles. As illustrated in the embodiment of
In general, the word module, as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, possibly having entry and exit points, written in a programming language, such as, for example, C, C++, or C#. A software module may be compiled and linked into an executable program, installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in an interpreted programming language such as, for example, BASIC, Perl, or Python. It will be appreciated that software modules may be callable from other modules or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events or interrupts. Software instructions may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be further appreciated that hardware modules may be comprised of connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may be comprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The modules described herein are preferably implemented as software modules, but may be represented in hardware or firmware. Generally, the modules described herein refer to logical modules that may be combined with other modules or divided into sub-modules despite their physical organization or storage.
In one embodiment, the media engagement system 150 includes, for example, a server or a personal computer that is IBM, Macintosh, or Linux/Unix compatible. In another embodiment, the media engagement system 150 comprises a laptop computer, smart phone, personal digital assistant, or other computing device, for example. In one embodiment, the exemplary media engagement system 150 includes a central processing unit (“CPU”) 105, which may include a conventional microprocessor. The media engagement system 150 further includes a memory, such as random access memory (“RAM”) for temporary storage of information and a read only memory (“ROM”) for permanent storage of information, and a mass storage device 220, such as a hard drive, diskette, or optical media storage device. In certain embodiments, the mass storage device 220 stores portions of the survey data, such as survey data that is stored in the survey data store 120 of
The media engagement system 150 is generally controlled and coordinated by operating system software, such as the Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, PalmOS, Blackberry OS, or other compatible operating systems. In Macintosh systems, the operating system may be any available operating system, such as MAC OS X. In other embodiments, the media engagement system 150 may be controlled by a proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processes for execution, perform memory management, provide file system, networking, and I/O services, and provide a user interface, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among other things.
The exemplary media engagement system 150 includes one or more commonly available input/output (I/O) interfaces and devices 210, such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, and printer. In one embodiment, the I/O devices and interfaces 210 include one or more display device, such as a monitor, that allows the visual presentation of data to a user. More particularly, a display device provides for the presentation of GUIs, application software data, and multimedia presentations, for example. The media engagement system 150 may also include one or more multimedia devices 140, such as speakers, video cards, graphics accelerators, and microphones, for example. In one embodiment, the I/O interfaces and devices 210 comprise devices that are in communication with modules of the media engagement system 150 via a network, such as the network 160 and/or any secured local area network, for example.
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
A. Scoring Module
The scoring module 250 is configured to determine dimension scores for a plurality of media vehicles. As noted above, media vehicles comprise any type of media that may be consumed by a media consumer, such as a television program, an Internet website, a magazine, a computerized game, a book, a newspaper, etc. Thus, the scoring module 250 is configured to analyze survey data associated with any type of media vehicle. For ease of discussion, an exemplary media vehicle may be described in certain examples provided herein. More particularly, television program media vehicles may be discussed herein. Those of skill in the art will recognize, however, that the systems and methods described herein may be implemented with any type of media vehicle, from any media channel.
In one embodiment, the scoring module 250 accesses survey data comprising information indicating responses of a plurality of media consumers to engagement statements associated with respective media vehicles. For example, a media consumer may be asked to rank the truthfulness (or untruthfulness) of each of a plurality of statements associated with a particular media vehicle. In one embodiment, the media consumer is first asked if they are familiar with the media vehicle and/or if they have watched a predetermined number of episodes of the media vehicle in an optional predetermined time period (or otherwise interacted with a media vehicle from another media channel). Depending on the embodiment, the survey data may be accessed from the survey data store 120 and/or the mass storage device 220 of the media engagement system 150. For example, in certain embodiments, portions of the survey data may be transferred to the mass storage device 220 of the media engagement system 150 so that analysis of the survey data may be expedited.
The scoring module 250 is configured to analyze the survey data and determine one or more dimension scores for a selected group, or all, of the media vehicles included in the survey data. For example, the survey data may include survey information for 600 media vehicles, such as 600 television programs. In one embodiment, a predetermined number of media consumers must respond to statements regarding a particular media vehicle before survey data associated with that particular media vehicle is considered representative of a significantly larger population. For example, if 20 or fewer media consumers responded to statements regarding a particular television program, the survey data for that television program may not be sufficient to extrapolate data that is useful for marketers, advertisers, and others that are interested in media consumer engagement with the television program. Thus, survey data may also indicate a number of media consumers that responded to survey statements regarding each media vehicle.
In one embodiment, the scoring module 250 generates, for each media vehicle, dimension scores for each of a plurality of engagement dimensions. In this embodiment, the engagement dimensions each represent a specific dimension of the media consumer's engagement with the media vehicle. For example, one engagement dimension may indicate a degree of inspirational value provided by the media vehicle. Another engagement dimension may indicate a trustworthy value of the media vehicle, while other engagement dimensions may indicate a life enhancing value, a social interaction value, and/or a personal timeout value of the media vehicle. In some embodiments, an engagement dimension may indicate the media consumer's attention and/or receptivity to advertisements that are included in the media vehicle. Accordingly, the scoring module 250 may generate multiple dimensions scores for each of a plurality of media vehicles. Table 1, below, illustrates exemplary dimension scores for first and second media vehicles, such as television programs.
In the embodiment of table 1, the dimension scores range from 100-500, where a score of 500 indicates that the particular media vehicle is highly engaging and a score of 100 indicates that the particular media vehicle is not engaging with regard to the particular engagement dimension. As illustrated above in table 1, the first media vehicle is less inspirational to media consumers than the second media vehicle, but the second media vehicle is more trustworthy than the first media vehicle. By providing multiple dimensions of media consumer engagement with particular media vehicles, customers of the media engagement provider, such as television networks, for example, may more appropriately sell/place advertising on respective media vehicles.
In one embodiment, the scoring module also determines a total engagement score, which is a combination of a plurality of the dimension scores for a media vehicle. In one embodiment, the total engagement score is an average of a selected group of engagement scores for a media vehicle. For example, a total engagement score for the first media vehicle of table 1 may be calculated as an average of the six illustrated dimension scores (e.g., the average of 160, 220, 200, 350, 390, and 210=255). In another embodiment, the total engagement score may comprise dimension scores associated with only a subset of the scored engagement dimensions. For example, a total engagement score may exclude the ad attention/receptivity engagement score, so that the total engagement score is more representative of the media consumer's engagement with the actual media vehicle, rather than their receptivity to advertisements associated with the media vehicle. Thus, excluding the ad attention/receptivity dimension score for the first media vehicle of table 1, the total engagement score is 264 (the average of 160, 220, 200, 350, and 390). In other embodiments, a total engagement score may include any combination of the scored dimension scores.
In one embodiment, the scoring module 250 is configured to generate one or more dimensions scores that are specific to media vehicles of particular media channels. For example, one or more dimension scores may be determined for television media vehicles, while a different one or more dimension scores may be determined for magazine media vehicles. In one embodiment, television specific engagement dimensions comprise personal connection and/or near and dear. In one embodiment, internet specific engagement dimensions comprise interactivity/community and/or enjoyment/attraction. In one embodiment, print specific engagement dimensions comprise image impact. Thus, the dimension scores available for media vehicles of various media channel may vary. Table 2, below, illustrates the dimension scores of table 1, as well as media channel specific dimension scores for first, second, third, and fourth media vehicles from various media channels.
As illustrated in table 2, dimension scores for the media channel specific engagement dimensions are calculated only for media vehicles from the respective media channel. In other embodiments, the dimensions illustrated above may be associated with more or fewer media channels. Additionally, the specific dimension titles indicated above may be changed to other synonymous titles. Furthermore, additional engagement dimensions not specifically described herein are contemplated for use in connection with the media engagement system 100 and the various engagement reports discussed herein.
In one embodiment, the scoring module 250 determines the dimension scores based on media consumer responses to respective subgroups of survey statements. Thus, in one embodiment the engagement statements that are used in determining the inspirational dimension scores are different than the engagement statements that are used in determining the trustworthy, life enhancing, etc., dimension scores. In one embodiment, the associations between engagement statements and respective engagement dimensions are determined based on statistical analysis of correlations between survey statements and respective engagement dimensions. Accordingly, the engagement statements are selected for use in developing respective dimension scores based on their strong correlation with the particular engagement dimension. Further discussion of the methods performed by the scoring module in determining scores for media vehicles is provided below with reference to
B. Index Module
The index module 230 is configured to determine a rank and/or index for each respective media vehicle of a group of selected media vehicles. Thus, the index module 230 is configured to generate data that allows comparison of respective media vehicles with other media vehicles in a group of media vehicles. For example, a user, such as a customer, may select all media vehicles of a particular network broadcaster. In this embodiment, the scoring module 250 generates dimension scores for one or more selected engagement dimensions associated with the media vehicles of the network broadcaster. In addition to the dimension scores, the index module 230 may determine a rank and/or index for each of the media vehicles indicative of a relationship between the respective dimension scores of media vehicles with the remaining media vehicles of the selected network broadcaster. Accordingly, the data provided by the index module 230 allows a user to compare engagement characteristics of specific media vehicles with engagement characteristics of a group of media vehicles.
In one embodiment, the index module 230 generates an index for each of a selected group of media vehicles for each of the scored engagement dimensions. Thus, each media vehicle may comprise multiple indexes, one index for each of the scored engagement dimensions. In one embodiment, an index for a particular media vehicle is calculated as the dimension score for the media vehicle divided by the average dimension score for a selected group of media vehicles. In one embodiment, the above-noted index calculations may each be multiplied by 100 in order to more closely resemble percentages. Accordingly, the indexes represent relationships between particular media vehicle dimension scores and the dimension scores of other media vehicles. Table 3, below illustrates indexes for a group of media vehicles in each of two engagement dimensions.
As illustrated in table 3, an average inspirational dimension score for a selected group of N media vehicles, such as all media vehicles of one or more broadcasters, for example, is 225, while an average trustworthy dimension score for the selected group of media vehicles is 200. Accordingly, the first media vehicle, having an inspirational dimension score of 250 and a trustworthy dimension score of 280, has higher dimension scores than the respective dimension averages in both dimensions. Thus, the inspirational Index of 111 for the first media vehicle indicates that that particular first media vehicle has an inspirational dimension score that is higher then 11% of the inspirational dimension scores for the N media vehicles. Likewise, the trustworthy Index of 144 the first media vehicle indicates that the trustworthy dimension score of 280 for the first media vehicle is on average, higher than 40% of the N media vehicles. The inspirational Index of 80 for the third media vehicle indicates that the inspirational dimension score for the third media vehicle is on average, lower than 20% of the N media vehicles. Thus, if the N media vehicles comprise all, or a subset of, television programs offered by a network broadcaster, the indexes indicate relationships between specific media vehicles and the selected group of media vehicles offered by the network broadcaster. Likewise, the N media vehicles may be selected to comprise media vehicles from multiple broadcasters and/or other content providers, such that the indexes are indicative of relationships between specific media vehicles and media vehicles from multiple broadcasters and/or other content providers.
C. Report Module
The report module 230 is configured to access the dimension scores and/or indexes for a selected group of media vehicles and generate a report indicative of the accessed data. For example, the report module 260 may generate a report indicating multiple dimension scores for each of a plurality of media vehicles, as well as an index for each of the dimension scores. Exemplary reports that may be generated by the report module 230 are illustrated in
II. Customer Software Module
Referring to
In one embodiment, the index module 260 and the report module 270 perform substantially the same functions as the index module 130 and report module 170, respectively, of
III. Engagement Survey
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
IV. Exemplary Dimension Score Determination
Beginning in block 710, media consumer responses to statements regarding the media consumer's engagement with specific media vehicles are received. For example, survey data comprising response data from a plurality of media consumers is received by the media engagement system 150. As noted above, survey data may be stored in a data store, such as the survey data store 120 of
Continuing to block 720, an engagement dimension is selected for scoring. For example, if six different engagement dimensions are to be scored, a single engagement dimension of the six is selected in block 720. As described below with reference to block 770, once the selected engagement dimension has been scored for all of the media vehicles included in the survey data, the method returns to block 720 where another engagement dimension is selected for scoring. Depending on the embodiment, the engagement dimensions that are scored may vary. For example, the set of engagement dimensions may vary based on the media channel, or channels, of the media vehicles in the engagement survey.
Moving to block 730, a subset of the engagement statements that are associated with the selected dimension are determined. As noted above, in one embodiment each of the statements of an engagement survey is associated with an engagement dimension. Thus, a particular engagement dimension may be associated with a plurality of statements of the engagement survey. For example, as illustrated in
Continuing to block 740, a specific media vehicle is selected for scoring. As noted above, an engagement survey may be completed for each of a plurality of media vehicles so that the response scores are specific to each media vehicle. Thus, the engagement statements 410 (
Next, in block 750, a media vehicle dimension for the selected dimension is calculated based on response scores from a plurality of media consumers in response to engagement statements associated with the selected media vehicle. Thus, if the inspirational dimension is selected in block 720 and the Little Miss magazine media vehicle is selected in block 740, the response scores associated with at least engagement statements 410A, 410B, 4101, 410L, and 410M are used in calculating the inspirational dimension score for Little Miss magazine. Similarly, if the trustworthy dimension is selected in block 720 and the Little Miss magazine media vehicle in selected in block 740, the response scores associated with at least engagement statements 410C and 410N are used to determine the trustworthy dimension score for Little Miss magazine.
In one embodiment, the dimension score is calculated as a normalized average of the response scores associated with the selected engagement statements. More particularly, an average of the response scores associated with the selected engagement statements may be calculated and the average score may then be normalized to a desired dimension score range. For example, if the average of response scores from a plurality of media consumers is 2.8, on a zero to four scoring scale, the actual dimension score may be calculated by multiplying the average response score by 100, resulting in a dimension score of 280.
Depending on the embodiment, the dimension scores have various ranges. For example, in one embodiment dimension scores range from 0-4, similar to the exemplary response scores of
In one embodiment, certain of the engagement statements 410 are more indicative of media consumer's engagement with respect to a corresponding engagement dimension. Accordingly, in this embodiment the engagement statements may be weighted so that certain response scores have more effect on a dimension score than other response scores (see Block 830 of
In one embodiment, a group of media consumers that provided responses to statements regarding a particular media vehicle may not be entirely representative of the actual group of individuals that consumes the particular media vehicle. For example, survey data may include engagement responses from 500 media consumers regarding a particular media vehicle, while it is expected that approximately 20,000 individuals regularly consume the particular media vehicle (based on data from Nielsen ratings or the like, for example). Thus, if the Nielsen data indicates that the 20,000 individuals that regularly consumes the particular media vehicle comprises about 80% females, but the 500 media consumers responding to engagement statements in the engagement survey comprises only about 50% females, engagement scores calculated on the engagement data may be weighted to accurately represent the total consuming population. Accordingly, in one embodiment the media engagement system 150 associates weightings to certain media consumer responses in order to normalize the survey data towards the total media vehicle consuming population. In the example above, responses provided by the about 250 female respondents may be weighted more heavily in calculating dimension scores for the particular media vehicle than are the responses provided by the about 250 male respondents. In other embodiments, per-media consumers weightings may be applied based on any attribute of media consumers (e.g., geographic location, age, gender, interests, education, income, etc.) that is believed to be misaligned with the general population of media consumers for particular media vehicles.
In one embodiment, statistical data regarding specific media consumer responses to specific engagement statements is compiled as the dimension scores are calculated. For example, data regarding responses to specific of the selected engagement statements may be accumulated. Such data may be accessed by the media engagement system and/or authorized customers to generate reports such as those illustrated in
Continuing to block 760, the scoring module 250, for example, determines if there are additional media vehicles that need to be scored for the selected engagement dimension. In one embodiment, the scoring module 250 determines dimension scores for each media vehicle that has received at least a predetermined number of response scores from qualifying media consumers. For example, if less than five media consumers completed engagement surveys for a first media vehicle, dimension scores may not be calculated for that media vehicle. If additional media vehicles remain to be scored for the selected dimension, the method returns to block 740 where one of the remaining media vehicles is selected for scoring, and then to block 750 where the dimension score for the newly selected media vehicle is calculated.
Returning to block 760, if there are no additional media vehicles to be scored for the selected dimension, the method continues to block 770, where the scoring module 250, for example, determines if there are additional dimensions for which dimension scores have not been calculated. As noted above, the media engagement system 150 is advantageously configured to determine indications of media consumer engagement with media vehicles across multiple engagement dimensions. Thus, blocks 730-760 are repeated for each engagement dimension so that multiple dimension scores for each of the media vehicles may be determined.
When dimension scores for all dimensions have been determined, the method continues to block 780 where the scored survey data set is stored, where use of the term “scored” indicates that dimension scores have been added to the raw survey data, or possibly replace the raw survey data, that is initially accessed by the media engagement system 150 in block 410. Depending on the embodiment, the scored survey data may include indications of each original media consumer response that is in the survey data, the scored survey data may include summary data regarding the original media consumer response, or the scored survey data may not include any indication of the specific media consumer responses to engagement statements.
In one embodiment, the scored survey data is stored in the survey data store 120 of
Beginning in block 810, survey data including responses to a plurality of engagement statements from a plurality of media consumers is analyzed. In one embodiment, the survey data comprises numerical response scores, such as the response scores illustrated in
Next, in block 820, one or more statements associated with each engagement dimension are determined. In one embodiment, the engagement statements associated with each of the engagement dimensions is predetermined, such as by statistical analysis of a correlation between respective engagement statements and respective engagement dimensions. Thus, in block 820, the statements and corresponding response scores associated with each engagement dimension are predetermined. In other embodiments, the engagement statements to be associated with respective engagement dimensions are determined based on customized requirements from a customer, for example. In one embodiment, each engagement statement is associated with only one dimension. In other embodiments, each engagement statement may be associated with multiple dimensions, such that response scores for a particular engagement statement may considered in determining multiple dimension scores.
Moving to block 830, for each dimension, weightings for the engagement statements are determined. As noted above, in certain embodiments engagement statements associated with a particular dimension may not be equally weighted. Accordingly, in block 830, the weightings for each of the engagement statements in a selected dimension are determined so that the weightings may be applied to the response scores in order to determine dimension scores that reflect the appropriate weightings.
As illustrated in
Beginning in block 910, an indication of one or more scored survey data set to be used in developing dimension scores is received by the media engagement system 150, such as from one of the customers, for example. In one embodiment, the media engagement system 150 has access to multiple sets of scored survey data, where each of the sets of scored survey data represents data received from media consumers at different times and/or in different locations. For example, certain engagement surveys may be presented to a predetermined quantity of media consumers at varying locations every period, where the period may be any time frame, such as 1 month, three months, six months, a year, two years, or more. Additionally, survey data sets may be provided by different entities, either in a raw format that may be scored by the media engagement system 150 or in a pre-scored format. Thus, in block 910, one or more scored survey data sets to be considered in developing engagement data may be selected by the requesting customer, or a default survey data set may be selected by the media engagement system 150, such as a most recent scored survey data set.
Moving to block 920, an indication of one or more dimensions of interest to the requesting customer is received by the media engagement system 150. As noted above, multiple dimensions for each media channel may be available. However, certain customers may not be interested in certain engagement dimensions. Additionally, if the operator of the media engagement system 150 charges a fee for each dimension that is included in a multi-dimensional engagement report, a requesting customer may limit the number of dimensions based on cost constraints. In an advantageous embodiment, the media engagement system 150 selects a set of engagement dimensions that are applicable to a media channel from which media vehicle data is requested (block 930). In this embodiment, block 920 may be skipped and the appropriate dimension may be selected after the customer indicates a group of media vehicles in block 930.
In block 930, an indication of one or more media vehicles is received by the media engagement system 150. In one embodiment in, all media vehicles in a particular media channel may be selected in block 930. In one embodiment, media vehicles may be selected in groups, such as groups associated with publishers/providers of the various media vehicles. For example, all television media vehicles associated with a particular cable channel and/or broadcast channel may be selected in block 930.
Next, in block 940, for each dimension an average dimension score is determined based on the dimension scores for all of the indicated one or more media vehicles. For example, if the dimensions selected in block 920 include inspirational, trustworthy, and life enhancing, at block 940 the average inspirational dimension score is calculated as the average of all inspirational dimension scores for the media vehicles selected in block 930. Likewise, the average trustworthy dimension score is calculated as the average of all trustworthy dimension scores for the media vehicles selected in block 930, and the average life enhancing dimension score is calculated as the average of all life enhancing dimension scores for the media vehicles selected in block 930.
Moving to block 950, one of the indicated dimensions is selected. For example, if the inspirational, trustworthy, and life enhancing engagement dimensions are indicated in block 920, one of the three engagement dimensions is selected in block 950. As discussed below with reference to block 990, the method of blocks 960-980 is repeated for each of the indicated engagement dimensions.
In block 960, one of the indicated media vehicles is selected for indexing. As discussed below with reference to block 980, the method of block 970 is repeated for each indicated media vehicle, which is repeated for each dimension.
In block 970, an index for the selected media vehicle in the selected engagement dimension is determined. In one embodiment, the index indicates a relationship between the average dimension score for the selected dimension and the selected media vehicle's score for the indicated dimension. Accordingly, the index for a particular media vehicle in a dimension indicates how the media vehicle compares to other media vehicles in the indicated group of media vehicles with regard to a particular engagement dimension. In other embodiments, the index for media vehicles is calculated in other manners.
In one embodiment, statistical data regarding specific media consumer responses to specific engagement statements for the selected media vehicles is compiled as the indexes are calculated. For example, data regarding responses to specific of the selected engagement statements may be accumulated. Additionally, data regarding dimension scores for individual media consumers whose response data is used in determining indexes may be accumulated. Such data may be used in generating reports, such as the report of
Next, in block 980, the media engagement system 150 determines if there are one or more additional media vehicles for which indexes have not been determined with respect to the currently selected engagement dimension. If a media vehicle of the selected one or more media vehicles (block 930) have not yet been associated with an index for the currently selected dimension (block 950), the method returns to block 960 where one of the remaining media vehicles is selected for indexing. If all media vehicles in the indicated group of media vehicles have received indexes for the currently selected dimension, the method continues to block 990.
In block 990, the media engagement system 150 determines if indexes have been determined for media vehicles in each of the indicated dimensions (block 920). If one or more of the indicated engagement dimensions have not been selected for indexing, the method returns to block 950, where one of the remaining dimensions is selected, and then through blocks 960-980 where each of the indicated media vehicles is associated with an index for the selected dimension. Alternatively, if the indicated media vehicles have been indexed in each of the indicated engagement dimensions, the method completes and the indexing data is stored in one or more data stores, such as a mass storage device 220 (
While the method of
The exemplary engagement report 1000 includes three columns in each of the dimension segments. Specifically, each section comprises an observations column, a score column, and an index column. In one embodiment, the observations column indicates a number of media consumers that responded to engagement statements regarding a particular media vehicle. In one embodiment, the observations column indicates a total number of media consumers that responded to engagement statements regarding a particular media vehicle, wherein the media consumers met additional criteria for having their responses to the engagement statements included in the survey data set. For example, in one embodiment a media consumer must indicate that they had viewed/heard/interacted with the specific media vehicle a predetermined quantity of times in a predetermined time period.
In one embodiment, the score column of each of the sections 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050, 1060, 1070, 1080, and 1090, indicates dimension scores that are calculated by the media engagement system 150, for example. In one embodiment, the engagement scores are determined using a method similar to that of
In one embodiment, the indexes illustrated in the index columns of each section 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050, 1060, 1070, 1080, and 1090, indicate respective relationship between media vehicles and the combined group of selected media vehicles. In one embodiment, the indexes are generated using a method similar to that of
In the embodiment of
In an advantageous embodiment, the customer that generates the engagement report 1000 is provided with an opportunity to select the particular media vehicles to be included in the engagement report, as well as the particular engagement dimensions that should be included in the report. Thus, the customer may customize the engagement report 1000 to include only those media vehicles of interest and/or only those engagement dimensions of interest.
The overall score section 1095 indicates a total score for each media vehicle, where the total score may be based on the engagement scores for each of the dimensions that are selected for inclusion in the report. In other embodiments, the total score is based on a subset of the engagement scores that are selected for inclusion in the report and/or other engagement scores that are not selected for inclusion in the report. For example, the exemplary engagement report 1000 includes total scores in the overall score section 1095 that are based on each of the remaining engagement scores, except for the add attention/receptivity engagement scores in column 1070. Thus, the total scores in section 1095 are indicative of the media consumer's engagement with the actual media vehicle, rather than with advertisements that are included in the media vehicle, such as is indicated by the ad attention/receptivity engagement scores. In other embodiments, however, the ad attention/receptivity engagement scores are included in the total score calculation. In one embodiment, the total scores in the overall score section 1095 are calculated as an average of engagement scores for multiple dimensions. In other embodiments, the total scores are calculated using a weighted average, wherein engagement scores associated with certain engagement dimensions are more heavily weighted than engagement scores of other engagement dimensions.
The exemplary score range report 1100 indicates percentages of media consumer-specific engagement scores for the trustworthy dimension that fell within each of the ranges 100-199, 200-299, 300-399, and 400-499. As indicated in
The exemplary specialized report 1200 indicates what is referred to as a “top 2 box” percentage for each of a plurality of media vehicles listed in column 1210. In this embodiment, the top 2 box percentages indicate a percentage of media consumers from a selected data set that responded to respective engagement statements by selecting one of a top two response choices, such as the “very descriptive” or “descriptive” response options. In other embodiments, the response choices may be numerical or academic scores, for example, where a top two response choices may be 9 or 10 in a possible response range of 1-10, 4 or 5 in a possible response range of 1-5, or A or B in a possible response range of A-F, for example. In other embodiments, other groups of response options may be selected, such as a top three, top four, bottom two, bottom three, bottom four, or any combination of the response options available to media consumers.
With reference to exemplary report 1200, the percentages illustrated in columns 1222, 1232, 1242, 1252, 1262 indicate percentages of media consumers that responded to the respective engagement statements illustrated in row 1270 with one or both of the top to the response options. For the first media vehicle in row 1272, 55% of the 346 qualifying media consumers responded to the engagement statement “[the first media vehicle] inspires me in my own life,” by selecting one of the top two response options. Similarly, 72% of the 346 qualifying media consumers responded to the engagement statement “[the first media vehicle] touches me deep down,” by selecting one of the top to response options.
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While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features of the invention as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the device or process illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. As will be recognized, the present invention may be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features may be used or practiced separately from others. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
