Advertisements in broadcast television programming are digitally replaced with different ads prior to viewing. Replacement can occur in time and/or place shifted content, and can be used to promote a particular advertisement that the viewer has not yet seen, thereby improving the reach of the ad without oversaturation. Data reporting by the playback devices is collected in a database of viewed ads. The information in the database can be used to refresh previously-viewed ads, to increase saturation of particular ads, to replace previously-broadcast but no longer relevant ads, or for other purposes as desired.

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to improve watermark detection in acoustic environments are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory, instructions in the apparatus, and processor circuitry to execute and/or instantiate the instructions to encode a first symbol in a media file at a first symbol position on a first encoding layer of a multilayered watermark, and encode a second symbol in the media file at a second symbol position on a second encoding layer of the multilayered watermark, the first encoding layer and the second encoding layer including a plurality of symbol positions, one or more of the plurality of the symbol positions on at least one of the first encoding layer or the second encoding layer to be empty.

The present disclosure relates to reducing or preventing ad fatigue in a user by determining the preference of a user to an ad, in particular user preference for parameters such as video track, audio track, dialogue or tone. The disclosure also relates to the provision of a timer that prevents an ad being shown repeatedly within a predetermined time frame.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to identify user presence to a meter. An example apparatus includes memory, instructions, and at least one hardware processor to execute the instructions to at least: obtain presence information from a configuration device, the configuration device separate from the apparatus, the presence information indicating that user is present at the apparatus; verify the presence information matches user information, the user information stored in a memory of the apparatus; cause a confirmation prompt to be displayed on the configuration device, the confirmation prompt to indicate the presence information was obtained by the apparatus; and store the presence information in memory.

In some embodiments, a method receives a first sequence of inputs for processing via a sub-model of a plurality of sub-model. The plurality of sub-models are part of a main model. An input in the sequence of inputs is masked with a masked value to generate a second sequence of inputs. The method processes the second sequence of inputs using the sub-model to generate a sequence of features that correspond to the second sequence of inputs and processes the sequence of features to generate a first output. The first output is processed to generate a second output of the main model. The sub-model is trained based on a feature in the sequence of features that corresponds to the masked input and the second output.

Systems and methods are described herein for retrieving an information file from a user profile about a scheduled trip, where access to content may be restricted and identifying, based on the consumption pattern, a first progression point before the scheduled start time and a second progression point after the scheduled end time of the scheduled trip. Based on the difference between the first and second progression points, the media guidance application causes to be stored the respective media assets on a consumption device. Then before departing for the scheduled trip, the media guidance application confirms the first progression points against the current progression point and causes to adjust the stored media assets based on a difference between the current progression point and the first progression point.

An audience measurement computing system for monitoring a media presentation device in a monitored environment is described and includes a network interface, at least one processor, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor(s). The computing system is configured to obtain, via a cable connected to an input port of the media presentation device, a voltage signal generated by the media presentation device based on an operational state of the media presentation device; compare voltage indicated by the voltage signal to a threshold; based on the comparing, generate timestamped operational state data comprising a record indicative of when the media presentation device is in an on-state; obtain audience measurement data representing one or more media signals communicated to the media presentation device; and transmit, via the network interface over a network and to a central facility, the timestamped operational state data and the audience measurement data.

Methods, apparatus, systems to determine a conditional probability based on audience member probability distributions for media audience measurement are disclosed. Disclosed example methods for media audience measurement include determining a first audience probability distribution for a first member of a household and determining a second audience probability distribution for a second member of the household. Disclosed example methods also include calculating probabilities for audience combinations of the first member and the second member of the household based on the first audience probability distribution and the second audience probability distribution. Disclosed example methods further include determining a household audience characteristic probability based on the calculated probabilities of the audience combinations of the household. The household audience characteristic indicates likelihoods of different possible audience compositions of the household for a media event.

A method for providing multi-part persistent content includes requesting a content item from a content server, and receiving a first portion of a multi-part content item. The first portion of the multi-part content item is displayed to a user of the client device via a first application executed by the client device. The method also includes providing an authentication token and an identification of a state of execution of the multi-part content item to the content server, and subsequently requesting a second content item, the request comprising the authentication token. The method also includes receiving a second portion of the multi-part content item, the second portion of the multi-part content item displayed to the user of the client device via a different, second application executed by the client device. The second portion is selected by the content server based on the state of execution of the multi-part content item.

A sharing client device shares content with viewing client devices. A sharing module operating on a sharing client device and on the viewing client devices facilitates the creation and analysis of viewer snapshots, permitting automatic determination of whether viewers are up-to-date with their display of shared content. Based on the analysis and on a policy of the sharing module, the sharing module can take a number of actions, such as generating and displaying a viewer summary that a user of the sharing client device may view to determine whether, or to what extent, the viewing client devices are up-to-date in their displays of the shared content.