Ipsos Mori study, how do they do that?!

[mc2fool]

I've received a letter in the post today from Ipsos Mori inviting me to "help in an exciting research study that looks at how people in the UK watch TV, listen to the radio and use the internet", and in return for this I'll get £30 of "points" for the first month and a further £10 worth for each month thereafter I stay in the study, and these points can be "redeemed for thousands of items including a large selection of shopping vouchers and products direct from partners including John Lewis and Argos."

This all looks genuine and my first thought was to post here to see if any other Lemons had signed up and if so how much of a faff it was and if there were any gotchas about the rewards, etc, etc. But then on reading further on in the letter I saw:

"What does the process involve?
There are two steps to becoming a panel member. Over a few days you'll be asked to:
1. Answer a few questions to see if you're eligible, plus questions about you and your household.
2. Downioad our app or software onto your smartphone, and tablets and computers (if you have these).
Once on the panel you simply use your devices as you usually would, and that's it."

And that's it?!? Ok, so I figure they install something on your devices that monitors which websites you go to, and indeed, on looking into it it's a mix of browser extensions and a VPN -- but in their FAQs they also say "you will be asked to download the the Ipsos MediaCell/MediaCell+ app and/or Ipsos MediaLink VPN on your smartphone. This monitors what you are watching on TV, listening to on the radio, and which websites and Apps you use on your smartphone."

Uh? How does an app on your smartphone know what you are watching on TV or listening to on the radio?!? Well the answer is further down in their FAQs:

"The MediaCell and MediaCell+ app are electronic audience measurement systems. They will sit in the background of your phone and monitor what you are watching and listening to via:

- Inaudible codes that are embedded in broadcast audio signals and then detected by an application on your Smartphone.
- A code generated from sound that may be a TV show or radio station audible to your device even when you are not using it."

Wow! I didn't know that happened!

So now I know ... but the first thought is still there, so, has anyone here signed up for this, and if so how much of a faff is it and are there were any gotchas about the rewards or the experience in general?

[kempiejon]

Mc2fool,

I was invited and answered some questions, I do not have my TV watching monitored but I have an extension on my Chrome browser Ipsos Iris Orange, https://irispanel.ipsos.com/
It tracks my browsing and sends details to the mother ship - every month I get more points which I can redeem via an online shopping outlet. ONly been on it a few months and there's enough for an orbital sander. Had a few teething problems and they sent me emails saying they are not getting enough data. It's my home PC so some days it's not used much, and the extension crashes so I now keep and eye on it and restart the PC to get it up again. Mostly painless now, I don't mind about the snooping and haven't noticed any detriment to my PC's performance. I have not cashed in the points yet so don't know how that works. The cheap things in the catalogue I would buy if I wanted them so I'm saving up for a real treat; provided there's no time limit it can sit there for years and I might get a free holiday or something in 2025.

[mc2fool]

Thanks for the response kempiejon. It looks like the inCompass survey I've been invited to join is the Iris internet use one you're on plus TV and radio monitoring, as at least the same app (MediaCell+) is used for both, and both use BI Worldwide for the rewards part, which looks the same. Shame you haven't cashed in yet, as that was one of the things I was curious about, but a bit surprised to hear that there are things like holidays available ... how long does one have to be on the study earning £10/month to get one of those?!

On the matter of inaudible codes embedded in broadcast audio signals that are detected by a smartphone app, on a bit of googling it looks like this has been around for quite a while, and apparently they're not only in TV programmes but also in the ads.

From https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/
"Privacy advocates are warning federal authorities of a new threat that uses inaudible, high-frequency sounds to surreptitiously track a person's online behavior across a range of devices, including phones, TVs, tablets, and computers.

The ultrasonic pitches are embedded into TV commercials or are played when a user encounters an ad displayed in a computer browser. While the sound can't be heard by the human ear, nearby tablets and smartphones can detect it. When they do, browser cookies can now pair a single user to multiple devices and keep track of what TV commercials the person sees, how long the person watches the ads, and whether the person acts on the ads by doing a Web search or buying a product."

From https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/your-phone-is-literally-listening-to-your-tv/416712/
"The TV is on in the background, and you’re replying to a quick email on your phone nearby. You don’t know it, but the devices are communicating. During a commercial, the TV emits an inaudible tone and your phone, which was listening for it, picks it up. Somewhere far away, a server makes a note: Both devices probably belong to you.

This information about which devices belong to whom is immensely valuable to advertisers hoping to target ads specifically to you."

[kempiejon]

OK perhaps not a holiday, I'd not previously looked further at the section marked "breaks" and I now see it's a bunch of those Virgin experience things, a James Bond walking tour of London or drive a military vehicle.

[vrdiver]

I've been an inCompass panel member for a few years now. I have the app (MediaCell+) on my phone and an extention on my PC's browser (Nielsen Netsight) . I also have a downloaded program running, Nielsen Online. Combined, they enroll me into Nielsen Rewards, Nielsen Mobile Panel and Nielsen Net Panel.

Once a month I get a £10 Amazon gift code (I chose that option rather than the catalogue one) which always works. I also get about £5 of "points" from netpanel, (average, as they do monthly and quarterly payouts) which also become Amazon vouchers.

My phone reports a bit of data usage by the MediaCell+ app, but not enough to worry about (1.3Gb over the last month, 95% of it via wifi rather than cellular) and I get the odd message about losing microphone access (typically after using Spotify) with a request to restart the app.

My browser appears unaffected by the extension and the PC doesn't report any problems with the app.

The only comment I'd make about leaving rewards in the reward-giver's account is that there is a small risk they get hacked/you forget about them/ they go bust, which is why i convert mine to Amazon vouchers and spend them. You can always put the equivalent real cash into an savings account, where it exists as real money under your control, spendable anywhere with anyone...

VRD

[mc2fool]

I've been an inCompass panel member for a few years now. I have the app (MediaCell+) on my phone and an extention on my PC's browser (Nielsen Netsight) . I also have a downloaded program running, Nielsen Online. Combined, they enroll me into Nielsen Rewards, Nielsen Mobile Panel and Nielsen Net Panel.

Once a month I get a £10 Amazon gift code (I chose that option rather than the catalogue one) which always works. I also get about £5 of "points" from netpanel, (average, as they do monthly and quarterly payouts) which also become Amazon vouchers.

Thanks for the response, vrdiver. It sounds like you're on a different (earlier?) reward system to what's being offered now, as now it's "BI Rewards" and the info on that (see http://incompass.ipsosmediacell.com/) doesn't mention Amazon vouchers, and I'd have thought they certainly would do if that was an option.

[vrdiver]

It sounds like you're on a different (earlier?) reward system to what's being offered now, as now it's "BI Rewards" and the info on that (see http://incompass.ipsosmediacell.com/) doesn't mention Amazon vouchers, and I'd have thought they certainly would do if that was an option.

Ah, yes. I do remember being asked a few months ago if I wanted to switch to the catalogue rewards, but opted not to, reasoning that Amazon was a perfectly good "catalogue" already

VRD