System and method for encouraging viewers to watch television programs

At a television set-top box receiver that is configured to display video television programming that is broadcast from a broadcast signal source to one or more viewers and to receive, display, and store web content encoded in the broadcast from the broadcast signal source, a method for offering reward incentives for the one or more viewers to watch video commercial programs broadcast during commercial breaks, the method comprising:

• at a set-top box receiver, and during a commercial break, receiving a broadcast signal from a broadcast signal source, the broadcast including a video commercial program;
• detecting a reward notice trigger in the received broadcast signal, the reward notice trigger storing a location and identity of a reward template stored on the set-top box receiver and at least some text for display to the viewer as notice that the reward notice trigger has been received;
• upon detecting the reward notice trigger, generating a reward notice alerting the viewer of a reward for viewing the video commercial program, wherein the reward notice is associated with the reward notice trigger and has a graphical form as defined by the reward template;
• detecting a query trigger in the received broadcast signal, the query trigger being received after the reward notice trigger and including a question field storing a question, wherein the question is about content of the video commercial program and a correct answer to the question generally requiring prior viewing of the video commercial program;
• displaying the reward notice and, after receiving viewer selection of the reward notice, generating a query interface allowing the viewer to input an answer to the question in the question field of the query trigger, the query interface being based on the query trigger;
• and
• transmitting the answer input by the viewer to a central server for a determination as to whether the viewer is entitled to a reward, entitlement to the reward being based at least in part on the central server determining that the viewer watched the video commercial program as a result of the viewer providing a correct answer to the question from the query trigger.