Introducing the Ad ECG: How the Set-Top Box Tracks the Lifeline of Television
Robert J. Kent
University of Delaware
David A. Schweidel
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
INTRODUCTION
A television commercial cannot influence viewers who have switched to another channel. Yet, billions of dollars in television advertising are bought each year without precise measurement of the audiences tuned to particular commercials (Crupi, 2007; Ephron, 2006; Steinberg and Hampp, 2007). Although advertisers have clamored for such commercial audience data for decades (Poltrack, 2006), decisions continued to be made based on live program audience data and, more recently, measures of average live...