Set-Top Boxes Blaze New Research Trail

Set-top boxes and virtually every type of data they can provide for measuring "tuning" behavior are a largely untapped resource, with no single organization capturing and processing all available data. This suggests that the significant benefits of set-top box  information will be realized only through broader industry collaboration.

This is according to the just-completed STB study from the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), a diverse group of senior research professionals from throughout the media and advertising industries dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of audience measurement methodology.

The STB study was a year-long endeavor that included the participation of 15 companies and organizations that are active in the ownership, creation, aggregating or processing of STB data.

According to the study, data "aggregators" -- companies that prepare STB data for end use by buyers and sellers -- are widely able to process channel-changing activities but show little uniformity in the processing and reporting of STB data illuminating viewing behavior that can be determinative for marketers' purposes. These data include:

• Muting
• Program-guide use
• Video-on-demand
• Picture-in-picture
• Polling
• Digital video recorder playback, fast-forward, pause and rewind (on internal devices only).

Additionally, data on usage of external devices (game consoles, DVDs, DVRs and VCRs), as well as viewer and resident demographics, are not yet being explored.

For purposes of the study, the 15 organizations that agreed to participate were broadly grouped into four categories: In addition to data "aggregators" these included data "creators," companies that provide data-gathering software; data "owners," companies that deal directly with subscribers and that own or control the return path over which tuning data flows; and "third-party processors," companies that provide the means by which the end-user can access and use STB data, either alone or merged with other database information.

A fifth category, "device makers" --such as set-top box manufacturers -- was not included in this initial study.

The study, underscoring the truly preliminary nature of the STB as a device for measuring tuning behavior, offers insight and some answers to many of the commonly asked questions regarding the state of STB research, such as:

• Is second-by-second data truly being collected on a 24/7 basis?
• Is there broad and accurate identification of commercial breaks?
• Can the room in which tuning occurs or the characteristics of the viewer be determined?
• Is weighting employed and can the data be projected to larger geographic areas?

"This initial STB study is not designed to provide actual tuning data -- it is to compile information about and report on the basic elements of STB data and its processing in its current nascent state," said Pat Liguori, chair of the CRE's Set-Top Box Committee and SVP, research, ABC Television Stations. "This is an important first step. The results show that although we are on the road to realizing the full potential of the STB as an audience measurement device, there still are speed bumps over which we must navigate.

"Our objective was to learn what data have been ‘captured' and what may be in the future," Liguori added. "We now realize that more information about STBs is needed, though, as a result of this study, we are better equipped to ask the right questions and understand what data is relevant. This study can help would-be STB data users focus their expectations about the kinds of data they want or what's available."

Liguori noted that CRE is providing the entirety of its STB findings, which will not be copyrighted, to the industry; the full study can be found at CRE's website here.

"The CRE's Set-Top Box Study is an outstanding first step in helping the media measurement industry understand factors that impact the collection and processing of STB data," said CRE member Colleen Fahey Rush, EVP, strategic insights and research, MTV Networks and chairman of the executive board of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement.

"I'm proud of the latest study we have produced on set top boxes," saidd Mike Hess, CRE chair and EVP-research, marketing science and consumer insights at Carat. "That's because so many of us have been wondering about them: What are they? How many are there? Can they really provide better ratings? Can the data be linked to other single-source measures such as frequent shopper data? The CRE report on STBs tries to address all of those issues even while acknowledging that STBs still represent the Wild West of the research industry."

The study was conducted with the assistance of independent TV industry researchers Tim Brooks and Stu Gray; and Jim Dennison of CableMeasures.