Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media

A method comprising:

• extracting, with a processor, a series of tags associated with media playing on a presentation device;
• detecting, with the processor, an event associated with the media playing on the presentation device;
• identifying, with the processor, a tag from the series of tags extracted approximate in time with the event to report to a central facility;
• and
• transmitting the identified tag to the central facility, other tags in the series of tags not being transmitted to the central facility.

A tangible machine readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

• detect a request to access a first uniform resource locator by a presentation device to play media on the presentation device;
• extract a series of metadata tags associated with the media while the media is playing on the presentation device;
• transmit a first metadata tag from the series of metadata tags to a central facility, the first metadata tag extracted approximately when the media begins playing;
• detect an event associated with the media playing on the presentation device;
• and
• transmit a second metadata tag from the series of metadata tags to the central facility, the second metadata tag extracted approximate in time to the event, intermediate metadata tags extracted between the first metadata tag and the second metadata tag being discarded without transmitting to the central facility.