What is automatic content recognition? Recognition of content being played involves recording and transmitting data about the content on the display. Moreover, ACR always works while watching TV channels, streaming services, players, using a browser, and playing on a console.
Everything is transferred to the manufacturers' servers, then decrypted, and data about preferred content is sold to advertisers. Based on the information received, suitable advertisements are provided to users.
Advertising data is also analyzed with information obtained from smartphones, search engines, and other sources, thanks to which advertisers build a very detailed - and often accurate - picture of a person.
So, the technology's operation principle is that the image is captured every second. But not the entire frame, but only 15-25 pixels located in different places. Since each pixel contains a specific color, ACR records specific colors in different screen parts.
This data is converted into a sequence of numbers and compared with a database containing almost any content. The coincidence of pixels with a specific frame informs the name of the content in a video/music file or game. The whole process is automated and is very similar to the principle of operation of the famous Shazam service, which recognizes music.