Hybrid drivers like 'Glee'

This post comes from Des Toups at CarInsurance.com.

The never-ending quest for data has arrived at your television set-top box, where audience-measurement​ strategist Kantar Media and consumer-opinion monolith J.D. Power and Associates have devised a new method for aligning eyeballs with advertisers.

When a commercial is piped to your TV over a digital platform, it returns data that reveals how long you watched. Tapping 100,000 households that use DirecTV, Kantar's return path data technology allows second-by-second monitoring of ads on 350 channels, it says. It even can tell if you fast-forwarded on your DVR.

J.D. Power supplies its auto-transaction data, allowing Kantar to associate viewing habits with ownership of specific makes and models (and thus to better target advertising). Magic!

The companies offered a peek at some results for the week of Sept. 26, and we of course wondered if our viewing habits might one day come back to haunt us: Post continues below.

• Among buyers of hybrid vehicles, the top three shows watched were "Body of Proof," "Person of Interest" and "Glee." The top hybrid in sales is the Toyota Prius, which racks up an average annual insurance bill of $1,418, according to data gathered by Quadrant Information Services -- right down the middle for 2011 models.
• Among buyers of non-luxury midsize cars, the top three programs were the Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys football game, "Dancing with the Stars" and "Grey's Anatomy." Again, a middle-of-the-road audience has a middle-of-the-road car and insurance rates. Ford's best-selling Fusion sedan carries up a $1,451 annual bill.
• Among luxury midsize car owners, the most-watched programs were "Revenge," the Redskins vs. Cowboys game and "Castle." The lovely Audi A6 costs $1,740 a year to insure, on average.
• Among minivan buyers, the three most-watched shows were "Grey's Anatomy," "Survivor: South Pacific" and "Blue Bloods." Three minivans -- the Chrysler Town & Country, the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey -- are the very cheapest vehicles in the country to insure at $1,092, $1,101 and $1,015 a year.

We don't know where this trend will end, but if it one day winds up in insurance discounts for watching "Survivor," we'e toast.

More on CarInsurance.com and MSN Money:

• Report attacks use of red-light cameras
• Why some cars are cheaper to insure
• Why 2 families pay $15,000-plus for car insurance
• The most and least expensive cars to insure
• How much vehicle can you afford?
• As cheap as auto insurance gets