Tele-Communications Inc is working to implement a system that tracks subscriber usage of interactive television services in an effort to maximize advertising revenue. In addition, the SummiTrak system will be used to track viewing habits for cable television, on-line services, Internet and telephony delivery. The system will also be used as an aid in advertisement insertion and, eventually, audience measurement. As well as helping TCI by letting it improve delivery and customer service, availability of more accurate consumer usage data will let it target advertisers more effectively. The system will provide advertisers with aggregate data combining local and national purchase rates, segmentable via such criteria as the time of day and region. SummiTrak is being built by Sybase Inc, Neuron Data Inc and Arrowsmith Technologies Inc.
