A viewer rating system developed by Oki Electric Industry is to be used in Japan to collect information on the viewing habits of IPTV users.
Existing ground-based broadcasting systems have the means to gather viewership data, such as user preference and viewer history.
Broadcasting companies say this information is important in enabling them to improve services.
However, until now there has been are no equivalent user information collection functions for IPTV services.
OKI’s IPTV Audience Rating Information System allows service providers, with the authorisation of users, to obtain information about when and which channel and programs the users watched.