Rich
2018-07-05 15:10:16 UTC
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<URL:https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/media/tv-viewer-trac
king.html>
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<URL:https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/media/tv-viewer-trac
king.html>
The growing concern over online data and user privacy has been focused
on tech giants like Facebook and devices like smartphones. But people's
data is also increasingly being vacuumed right out of their living rooms
via their televisions, sometimes without their knowledge.
In recent years, data companies have harnessed new technology to
immediately identify what people are watching on internet-connected TVs,
then using that information to send targeted advertisements to other
devices in their homes. Marketers, forever hungry to get their products
in front of the people most likely to buy them, have eagerly embraced
such practices. But the companies watching what people watch have also
faced scrutiny from regulators and privacy advocates over how
transparent they are being with users.
Samba TV is one of the bigger companies that track viewer information to
make personalized show recommendations. The company said it collected
viewing data from 13.5 million smart TVs in the United States, and it
has raised $40 million in venture funding from investors including Time
Warner , the cable operator Liberty Global and the billionaire Mark
Cuban.
Samba TV has struck deals with roughly a dozen TV brands - including
Sony, Sharp, TCL and Philips - to place its software on certain sets.
When people set up their TVs, a screen urges them to enable a service
called Samba Interactive TV, saying it recommends shows and provides
special offers "by cleverly recognizing onscreen content." But the
screen, which contains the enable button, does not detail how much
information Samba TV collects to make those recommendations.
Samba TV declined to provide recent statistics, but one of its
executives said at the end of 2016 that more than 90 percent of people
opted in.
Once enabled, Samba TV can track nearly everything that appears on the
TV on a second-by-second basis, essentially reading pixels to identify
network shows and ads, as well as programs on Netflix and HBO and even
video games played on the TV. Samba TV has even offered advertisers the
ability to base their targeting on whether people watch conservative or
liberal media outlets and which party's presidential debate they
watched.
...
on tech giants like Facebook and devices like smartphones. But people's
data is also increasingly being vacuumed right out of their living rooms
via their televisions, sometimes without their knowledge.
In recent years, data companies have harnessed new technology to
immediately identify what people are watching on internet-connected TVs,
then using that information to send targeted advertisements to other
devices in their homes. Marketers, forever hungry to get their products
in front of the people most likely to buy them, have eagerly embraced
such practices. But the companies watching what people watch have also
faced scrutiny from regulators and privacy advocates over how
transparent they are being with users.
Samba TV is one of the bigger companies that track viewer information to
make personalized show recommendations. The company said it collected
viewing data from 13.5 million smart TVs in the United States, and it
has raised $40 million in venture funding from investors including Time
Warner , the cable operator Liberty Global and the billionaire Mark
Cuban.
Samba TV has struck deals with roughly a dozen TV brands - including
Sony, Sharp, TCL and Philips - to place its software on certain sets.
When people set up their TVs, a screen urges them to enable a service
called Samba Interactive TV, saying it recommends shows and provides
special offers "by cleverly recognizing onscreen content." But the
screen, which contains the enable button, does not detail how much
information Samba TV collects to make those recommendations.
Samba TV declined to provide recent statistics, but one of its
executives said at the end of 2016 that more than 90 percent of people
opted in.
Once enabled, Samba TV can track nearly everything that appears on the
TV on a second-by-second basis, essentially reading pixels to identify
network shows and ads, as well as programs on Netflix and HBO and even
video games played on the TV. Samba TV has even offered advertisers the
ability to base their targeting on whether people watch conservative or
liberal media outlets and which party's presidential debate they
watched.
...