US 12,141,823 B2
Methods and apparatus to estimate census level impression counts and unique audience sizes across demographics
Michael R. Sheppard, Holland, MI (US); DongBo Cui, New York, NY (US); Jake Ryan Dailey, San Francisco, CA (US); Edward Murphy, North Stonington, CT (US); and Diane Morovati Lopez, West Hills, CA (US)
Assigned to The Nielsen Company (US), LLC, New York, NY (US)
Filed by The Nielsen Company (US), LLC, New York, NY (US)
Filed on Aug. 19, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/406,858.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/068,179, filed on Aug. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0058662 A1, Feb. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. G06Q 30/0201 (2023.01); G06F 16/48 (2019.01); G06Q 30/0242 (2023.01)
CPC G06Q 30/0201 (2013.01) [G06F 16/48 (2019.01); G06Q 30/0246 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus to determine census-based audience metrics of media across multiple demographics, the apparatus comprising:
an interface to access a database proprietor audience size and database proprietor impression count via a network transmission from a database proprietor;
audience size calculator circuitry to:
determine an estimated frequency of impressions based on (1) a first ratio of the database proprietor audience size to a database proprietor impression count, and (2) a first one of a plurality of cross-demographic total census impression parameter values;
determine a probability of a demographic being in an audience based on a first product of (1) a first one of a plurality of cross-demographic total census audience parameter values, (2) a second ratio of the database proprietor audience size squared to a second product of a first difference between a universe estimate and the database proprietor audience size and a second difference between the database proprietor impression count and the database proprietor audience size, and (3) a third difference between one and the estimated frequency of impressions;
determine an audience universe estimate based a third ratio of the probability of the demographic being in the audience to a first sum of one and the probability of the demographic begin in the audience; and
determine a first census-level audience size based on a product of the audience universe estimate and the universe estimate;
impression count calculator circuitry to determine a first census-level impression count based on the database proprietor audience size, the database proprietor impression count, the first one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census audience parameter values, and the first one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census impression parameter values; and
verification controller circuitry to:
determine whether the first one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census audience parameter values satisfies a first constraint, the first constraint based on a total audience count;
determine whether the first one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census impression parameter values satisfies a second constraint, the second constraint based on a total impression count; and
after a determination that the first constraint is not satisfied or the second constraint is not satisfied: (a) discard the first one of the cross-demographic total census audience parameter values and the first one of the cross-demographic total census impression parameter values, and (b) determine a second census-level audience size and a second census-level impression count that provide an improved accuracy relative to the first census-level audience size and the first census-level impression count by (1) selecting a second one of the cross-demographic total census audience parameter values and a second one of the cross-demographic total census impression parameter values, and (2) determining that the first one of the cross-demographic total census audience parameter values satisfies the first constraint and the second one of the cross-demographic total census impression parameter values satisfies the second constraint,
wherein the audience size calculator circuitry is to determine the first census-level audience size and the second census-level audience size according to:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein fk is the estimated frequency of impressions, c2 is the corresponding one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census impression parameter values,

OG Complex Work Unit Math
 is a first quantity based on the first ratio, ok is the probability of a demographic being in an audience, c1 is the corresponding one of the plurality of cross-demographic total census audience parameter values,

OG Complex Work Unit Math
 is a second quantity based on the second ratio, rk is the audience universe estimate, Xk is the corresponding census-level audience size, Uk is the universe estimate, Tk is the corresponding census-level impression count, Ak, is the database proprietor audience size, and Rk is the database proprietor impression count.