Methods and apparatus to generate electronic mobile measurement census data

A method for assigning media impressions to a user of a shared mobile device, the method comprising:

• receiving, by an impression collection server of an audience measurement system, a network communication identifying media presented at a mobile device, wherein the media is tagged with embedded beacon instructions that are downloaded to the mobile device when the mobile device accesses the media, the embedded beacon instructions to cause the mobile device to transmit, to the impression collection server, the network communication identifying the media;
• logging, by the impression collection server, an impression of the media based on the network communication received from the mobile device in accordance with the embedded beacon instructions;
• obtaining, by a computing system of the audience measurement system, usage data identifying usage of the mobile device in a panelist household, the usage data identifying a first audience member of the panelist household as a primary user of the mobile device and a second audience member of the panelist household as a secondary user of the mobile device;
• determining, by the computing system, that the mobile device is shared by the first audience member of the panelist household and the second audience member of the panelist household based on the usage data;
• obtaining, by the computing system, viewing habit data specifying respective media viewing attributes for the primary user and the secondary user;
• based on the respective media viewing attributes, generating, by the computing system, a viewer assignment model that predicts probabilities of audience member viewership of media without the audience measurement system obtaining and using data that explicitly identifies which audience member of a given panelist household is viewing that media;
• calculating, by the computing system, using the viewer assignment model, (i) a first probability that the primary user viewed the media and (ii) a second probability that the secondary user viewed the media;
• based on a comparison of the first probability and the second probability, assigning, by the computing system, the impression to the primary user or the secondary user;
• and
• generating, by the computing system, a census report using the assigned impression aggregated with other impression data for the media.

An audience measurement system comprising:

• an impression collection server configured to:
• receive a network communication identifying media presented at a mobile device, wherein the media is tagged with embedded beacon instructions that are downloaded to the mobile device when the mobile device accesses the media, the embedded beacon instructions to cause the mobile device to transmit, to the impression collection server, the network communication identifying the media, and
• log an impression of the media based on the network communication received from the mobile device in accordance with the embedded beacon instructions;
• and
• a computing system comprising at least one processor and a memory, the computing system configured to:
• obtain usage data identifying usage of the mobile device in a panelist household, the usage data identifying a first audience member of the panelist household as a primary user of the mobile device and a second audience member of the panelist household as a secondary user of the mobile device,
• determine that the mobile device is shared by the first audience member of the panelist household and the second audience member of the panelist household based on the usage data,
• obtain viewing habit data specifying respective media viewing attributes for the primary user and the secondary user,
• calculate a first probability score based on a comparison of the respective media viewing attributes of the primary user to corresponding media attributes of the media,
• calculate a second probability score based on a comparison of the respective media viewing attributes of the secondary user to corresponding media attributes of the media, the first and second probability scored calculated without the audience measurement system obtaining and using data that explicitly identifies which audience member of a given panelist household is viewing that media,
• based on a comparison of the first probability score and the second probability score, assign the impression to the primary user or the secondary user, and
• generate a census report using demographics of the primary user or the secondary user assigned to the impression.