DT5k generates a fingerprint for the ad, stores it, and then compares that fingerprint with hundreds of thousands of existing fingerprints for the shows that had been previously ingested into the system. It takes a few hours for all of the results to come in. When they do, the Duplitron makes sense of the numbers and tells the archive which programs contain copies of the ad and what time the ad aired.
These result end up being fairly accurate, but whatsapp lead not perfect. The matches are based on audio, not video, which means we face trouble when the same soundtrack is used in a political ad as has been used in, for instance, an infomercial.
We are working on improving the system to filter out these kinds of false positives, but even with no changes these fingerprints have provided solid data across the markets we track.
Duplitron
The Duplitron 5000, counting political ads. Credit: Lyla Duey.
Step 4: enjoying the results
And so you understand a little bit more about our system. You can download our data and watch the ads at the Political TV Ad Archive. (For more on our metadata–what’s in it, and what can you can do with it, read here.)
to make the system more accurate. We are also exploring ways to identify newly released political ads without any need for manual entry.
P.S. We’re also working to make it as easy as possible for any researchers to.