Fine-Tuning Cable Audiences†

Software monitors favored viewers, shifts commercials

Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2007 — When real-estate company RE/MAX International advertises with local cable operators, it typically asks them to air its commercials during home-improvement shows like A&E's "Flip This House" and HGTV's "House Hunters." The idea is that viewers of such programs may also be in the market to buy or sell a house. Such logic makes sense, but advertisers these days are demanding more precision, and getting the technology to do it.