Patent ID: 7437307

Claim:
A method for correlating media vehicles from different databases, the method comprising: creating a linkage system between a first media vehicle database associated with a first media vehicle and a second media vehicle database associated with a second media vehicle different than the first media vehicle, the linkage system associating the first and the second databases together based on comparable and inter-relatable demographic variables common to each of the databases and the first and the second databases relating to different media entities, the first media vehicle database and the second media vehicle database being independent of each other; tabulating first market rating data associated with the first media vehicle database for at least one of the demographic variables, the first market rating data including media vehicle viewing levels and audience demographic data; tabulating surrogate market rating data associated with the second media vehicle database for the at least one demographic variables, the second market rating data including media vehicle viewing levels and audience demographic data; determining target group populations for the at least one demographic variables for the second media vehicle database; calculating a projected vehicle audience for the first media vehicle database based on the first market rating data associated with the first media vehicle database and the determined target group populations; calculating a projected surrogate audience for the second media vehicle database based on the surrogate market rating data associated with the second media vehicle database and the determined target group populations; determining an actual surrogate audience; and providing an output of an actual vehicle audience for the first media vehicle represented by the first media database based on the projected vehicle audience for the first media vehicle database, the projected surrogate audience for the second media vehicle database, and the actual surrogate audience.