> How much can you sell it for? Really - let's say you have my entire viewing history for a year, let's say I'm from a valuable demographic, how much would that be worth? A dollar? 10 dollars?
It isn't just what you watch. It means they know when you're home and when you leave. By watching what you're watching they can make guesses as to your race, sex, income, politics, marital status, how old your children are, what your interests are, etc. Not all of that will be 100% accurate, but they don't care. It just has to be accurate enough that companies who buy the data will see an improvement in whatever their aims are. There's no PR backlash to worry about because you aren't allowed to know who they sell your data to, or how much they make off of it.
By watching what you're watching they can make guesses as to your race, sex, income, politics, marital status, how old your children are, what your interests are, etc. Not all of that will be 100% accurate, but they don't care.
Most houses have more than one screen. It shouldn't be too hard to correlate what everyone is watching or playing at any given time, and this would give quite accurate data.
Getting this data aggregated from mobile network providers seems much more accurate. Having the TV on is not the same as being home and it doesn't record if (or how many) people are actually watching. It's certainly worth something but I also doubt it's significant compared to the price of a TV. Online behavior and movement data is much more valuable.
The mobile network providers can say you visit netflix, but it cannot determine what you are watching. This data fills in certain holes in data sets that companies cannot get.
It isn't just what you watch. It means they know when you're home and when you leave. By watching what you're watching they can make guesses as to your race, sex, income, politics, marital status, how old your children are, what your interests are, etc. Not all of that will be 100% accurate, but they don't care. It just has to be accurate enough that companies who buy the data will see an improvement in whatever their aims are. There's no PR backlash to worry about because you aren't allowed to know who they sell your data to, or how much they make off of it.