RATING MULTIMEDIA PROGRAMS ACCESSED FROM A PROVIDER NETWORK

摘要

A system measures viewership of multimedia programs such as television programs, pay-per-view sporting events, and video-on-demand movies. Viewership data from a plurality of multimedia programs may be compared to determine ratings for the multimedia programs. Multimedia streams en route to set top boxes may be monitored using packet inspection to identify the multimedia program or programs included in the multimedia streams. An electronic table or array may be stored and updated with viewership statistics of monitored multimedia programs. Some embodiments track the total number of households or televisions that are powered on in a viewing area. Ratings are available substantially in real time by accessing a stored table with viewership information or by frequently polling a plurality of stored values to determine which multimedia program is being viewed by all or substantially all viewers in an area.