Last month, the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, filed a suit against General Motors. Attorney General Paxton has had an interesting history in filing all kinds of lawsuits, but this one is relevant to the media business.
In the press release from his office, Paxton’s point was that GM collected information about owners’ driving habits and then sold the information to third parties apparently without informed consent on the part of the vehicle owners.
During my tenure at Arbitron, I spent time working on “connected cars” and privacy was always a concern. Early on, the automakers were split. When you buy a car, who owns the data the vehicle produces? Is it the owner or does the manufacturer have the right to use it? Purchasing a new or used vehicle involves a great deal of paperwork, all signed at the same time. Do you remember reading all the paperwork you were asked to sign prior to your last vehicle purchase?
This matters to media in two different areas. Collecting data from cars is the great hope of audio audience measurement. Mass data of actual usage would be huge. DTS AutoStage is doing that now, but with only 7.5 million vehicles, that’s a tiny percentage of the US fleet. GM has shown they can do it as well. I’ve attended presentations by GM showing audio usage data for Chicago and Detroit.
Meanwhile, video (television) viewing habits are measured in a similar way although the process is more mature. Data from either set top boxes or smart TVs is sent back to the cable companies and the manufacturers. In the former case, the user generally does not own the cable box, but with the decline in cable subscriptions, the number of boxes in use is declining rapidly. I’ll admit to still having a cable subscription, but our home has no boxes and we use the Charter Spectrum app through Roku instead.
Even Nielsen is finally getting into the big data game for television. With so many options for consumers to choose from, it’s almost a necessity. Nielsen people meter samples aren’t large enough, but those high-quality samples can be used to adjust the big data, accounting for biases.
There are issues. With auto data, how do you know who or how many are in the car? Ownership doesn’t mean the same person always drives the vehicle. And who is in the room watching TV? How many people are viewing? Who are they? Still, using advanced statistical techniques, this is a better system for today’s unlimited option world.
Here’s the problem: Attorney General Paxton has hit on something. His concern is that GM is selling data that may be detrimental to the vehicle owner, for example, that the driver regularly exceeds the speed limit, makes bad maneuvers, or is prone to hard braking, which, if known, can run up insurance premiums, all without the owner’s consent. But his basis is privacy.
When you bought your big screen HDTV, do you remember expressly allowing the manufacturer to either use your data or sell it to a third party, even if anonymized? Digging into menus in one of my LG OLED TVs, there is something there about Nielsen. For someone with my background, I understand it. If you weren’t an audience researcher, would you know what this is about? Can you give informed consent?
Further, if Nielsen or any other company (comScore, etc.) is using my data, how will I be compensated? If Nielsen asks me to wear a PPM watch, fill out a diary, have people meters installed in my home or whatever, they offer to pay me. It’s not a lot, but an acknowledgment that I’m doing something on their behalf. LG has never offered me anything. Have you received anything from Samsung, Sony, Vizio, or any other set manufacturer that is profiting from your data?
Personally, I’m not concerned that a measurement company may find out that I watch a fair amount of NHL hockey during the season, but other consumers may not be as sanguine. What is preventing Attorney General Paxton, another state attorney general, or the Federal Trade Commission from filing suit suggesting that this is an unfair deal for consumers? Perhaps some enterprising law firm, looking for a potentially big payday, will file a class action suit claiming that millions have been harmed.
We all want better ratings data, even if we don’t buy the data. However, businesses are always wary of having a “single point of failure”. Except for Nielsen Audio and Eastlan, the ratings system has a single point of failure, but so far, no one appears to have both discovered it and acted. The fate of Attorney General Paxton’s suit against GM will be worth watching.
Let’s meet again next week, but perhaps sooner if you’ll be attending the Barrett News Media Summit in DC. Hope to see you there!
