Estimating Demographic Compositions Of Television Audiences

A computer implemented method, comprising:

• accessing viewer model data describing, for each of a plurality of demographic segments and for each of plurality of channels at a plurality of time blocks, a probability that a member of the demographic segment was viewing the channel at the time block;
• accessing household demographic data describing, for each of a plurality of households, one or more members of the household and, for each member of the household, one of the demographic segments to which the member belongs;
• generating, in a data processing apparatus, household model data from the viewer model data and the household demographic data, the household model data describing, for each of the households and for each demographic segment of the one or more members of the household, an expected number of viewers belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks;
• and
• generating, in the data processing apparatus, audience model data from the household model data, the audience model data describing, for each demographic segment, an estimated fraction of an audience belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks.

A system, comprising:

• a data storage device storing viewer model data and household demographic data, the viewer model data describing, for each of a plurality of demographic segments and for each of plurality of channels at a plurality of time blocks, a probability that a member of the demographic segment was viewing the channel at the time block, and the household demographic data describing, for each of a plurality of households, one or more members of the household and, for each member of the household, one of the demographic segments to which the member belongs;
• means for generating household model data from the viewer model data and the household demographic data, the household model data describing, for each of the households and for each demographic segment of the one or more members of the household, an expected number of viewers belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks;
• and
• means for generating audience model data from the household model data, the audience model data describing, for each demographic segment, an estimated fraction of an audience belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks.

A system, comprising:

• a data storage device storing viewer model data and household demographic data, the viewer model data describing, for each of a plurality of demographic segments and for each of plurality of channels at a plurality of time blocks, a probability that a member of the demographic segment was viewing the channel at the time block, and the household demographic data describing, for each of a plurality of households, one or more members of the household and, for each member of the household, one of the demographic segments to which the member belongs;
• a household modeler module that causes a data processing apparatus to generate household model data from the viewer model data and the household demographic data, the household model data describing, for each of the households and for each demographic segment of the one or more members of the household, an expected number of viewers belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks;
• and
• an audience modeler module that causes the data processing apparatus to generate audience model data from the household model data, the audience model data describing, for each demographic segment, an estimated fraction of an audience belonging to the demographic segment for each of the channels at each of the time blocks.