[mythtv-users] plugin idea: MythNielsen

[Brian Wood]

On May 7, 2006, at 10:03 PM, Richard Bronosky wrote:

> So, it occurred to me how valuable media viewing information is.
> DataDirect offers their services to us (in the US) in return for a
> simple little survey every few months.
>
> What if we gathered our viewing data and compilied it for them.
> They'd surely get value out of that.  We'd surely get value out of
> letting our geeky preferences being known.  It would also be
> interesting to be able to see those statistics for a social/community
> thing.  Finally this data could be used to generate the "you might be
> interested in" feature that comes up occationally.
>
> Anyway, I was just feeling generous this weekend and was looking for
> someone who may benefit from our hobby.
>
> Is there any truth to this?

I seriously doubt that they would trust the data. With all of the  
scandals that have come up in the past with "buying diaries" and  
other attempts by the "Dark Forces" to corrupt the information for  
the benefit of the Usual Suspects, any data source that Nielson did  
not completely control from start to finish would simply not be of  
interest to them.

It would be too easy for somebody to skew the information, and with  
the money at stake for even a single ratings point it is a certainty  
that an attempt would be made to do so.

OTOH, if you are looking to make some money ...