Method of measuring brand exposure and apparatus therefor

A method of measuring brand exposure on screen within a broadcast programme, comprising the steps of:

• identifying at least one reference image mask representing a logo or other trade mark indicia identifying the brand being advertised;
• capturing frame images from the broadcast programme;
• searching each captured frame image to identify if the likelihood of the presence of the reference image mask is above a predetermined threshold;
• and
• calculating the brand exposure in accordance with an algorithm that is a function of at least the duration of exposure of the identified reference image mask.

A method of measuring brand exposure within a broadcast transmission, comprising the steps of:

• storing at least one reference image mask representing a logo or other trade mark indicia representing a brand being advertised;
• capturing a sequence of frame images from the broadcast;
• running image searching software which outputs a parameter representing the likelihood of the presence of each image mask in each captured screen image;
• and
• computing a brand exposure measurement from at least said output parameters.

An apparatus for measuring brand exposure in a video stream, comprising:

• means (such as a digital storage device) for providing a reference mask representing a trade mark;
• means (such as a frame grabber) for capturing frames from the video stream;
• means (such as a processor and associated memory) for searching each captured frame using the reference mask to determine a respective correlation value indicative of the likelihood of the presence of the trade mark of the mask in that captured frame in dependence upon correlation between the mask and part of that captured frame;
• and
• means (such as the, or another, processor and associated memory) for calculating a brand exposure value for the video stream in dependence upon the determined correlation values.

An apparatus for measuring brand exposure on screen within a broadcast programme, comprising:

• means (such as an image search processor) for identifying at least one reference image mask representing a logo or other trade mark indicia identifying the brand being advertised;
• means (such as a frame grabber) for capturing frame images from the broadcast programme;
• means (such as a processor and associated memory) for searching each captured frame image to identify if the likelihood of the presence of the reference image mask is above a predetermined threshold;
• and
• means (such as the, or another, processor and associated memory) for calculating the brand exposure in accordance with an algorithm that is a function of at least the duration of exposure of the identified reference image mask.

An apparatus for measuring brand exposure within a broadcast transmission, comprising:

• means for storing at least one reference image mask representing a logo or other trade mark indicia representing a brand being advertised;
• means for capturing a sequence of frame images from the broadcast;
• processor means for running image searching software which outputs a parameter representing the likelihood of the presence of each image mask in each captured screen image;
• and
• means for computing a brand exposure measurement from at least said output parameters.