System and method for automatic detection of periods of heightened audience interest in broadcast electronic media

A method executed by a computer system for determining in an audio-visual signal encoding an event that is comprised of data representing an audience attending the event, periods of time that have heightened audience interest level, comprising:

• receiving a data representing the audio-visual signal;
• extracting from the received audio-visual data at least one parameter data corresponding to an at least one time-slice within the audio-visual signal, said at least one parameter data representing a magnitude of a sound level within a predetermined audio spectral range of the audio-visual signal within the corresponding an at least one time slice;
• receiving data representing an at least one word text data item representing at least one word spoken during the audio-visual data said at least one word text data item having a corresponding at least one time slice value;
• storing in a data structure the at least one parameter data and an at least one time slice value corresponding to the at least one parameter;
• storing in the data structure the at least one word text data item and corresponding at least one time slice value;
• determining an at least one time values of heightened audience interest by calculating a correlation between the extracted at least one parameter data representing a magnitude of a sound level within a predetermined audio spectral range of the audio-visual signal within the corresponding an at least one time slice, the stored at least one word text data items and an at least one pre-determined parameter data values and an at least one pre-determined text data items associated with a heightened audience interest level;
• and
• storing the determined at least one time values in a data structure associated with the audio-visual signal.