{ "published_before_scoring": "2026-09-28", "purpose": "Rules fixed before any product was scored. They define the cohorts and their applicability masks, what each dimension means, what a score of 0 to 5 requires, when a cell is n/e or n/a, which cells count, how availability, evidence grade and verification status are recorded, and how the Play Quotient summarises them without a league table.", "selection_rules": { "universe": "A reasoned market sample assembled by the vendor-universe sweep (workstream U) from the brief's seeds plus products found while researching workstreams A to I. Not a census. Each named service is classified by what the buyer purchases and where the ad renders. User-acquisition and paid-discovery products, SSPs, DSPs, publisher software, verification vendors, event sponsorship and in-game audio (scored in the audio paper) are listed, not scored. Products that surfaced only as names without an opened source are listed in the universe, not scored.", "scored_set": "A product enters the matrix when it is live or in beta at the cutoff, serves one cohort's buying task for brand advertising (cohort A, B1 or B2, recorded in data/product-register.json), and has at least inclusion_min_scored counted numeric cells (verified or qualified); n/a, n/e and unverified cells do not count. Announced and retired products, user-acquisition and paid-discovery products and products that fit no cohort are listed or historical in the register and never enter a field mean.", "deep_profiles": "Six to eight products chosen by market weight and depth of public evidence, per the brief: Anzu, Frameplay, Gadsme, Roblox brand ads, XBOX Media Solutions, Twitch or Discord, one more cohort A network, and one verification vendor's gaming product (descriptive, not scored). Each profile states why it was chosen." }, "scale": { "0": "the record documents that the capability is absent or has failed the criterion", "1": "adjacent or incidental", "2": "partial or indirect, for example via a partner", "3": "real but thinly evidenced, narrow in scope, or beta", "4": "documented and specific but from vendor documentation only, or independently observed but narrow", "5": "the capability is documented in operational detail from an official document, filing or independent observation" }, "cell_rules": { "scale": "0 to 5 integer, evidence-bounded, not absolute; every value is defined in \"scale\" above, and every dimension carries its own anchors for at least 5, 3, 1 and 0.", "zero": "0 is used only when a source documents absence (a vendor statement that the feature is not offered, a retired product, or an independent finding of failure). Missing evidence is never scored 0.", "ne": "n/e (no evidence) when the opened record gives no basis to score either way. Distinct from 0.", "na": "n/a comes only from the cohort's applicability mask (cohorts[].applicable), never vendor by vendor. n/a never enters k, a group mean, the coverage numerator or any imputation.", "availability": "Every scored cell carries one label: live (generally available at the cutoff), beta (limited access or beta), announced (not yet observable), retired, unconfirmed (claimed but no observable evidence).", "evidence_grade": "A = filing, official transaction document, regulator or standards-body record; B = independent measurement or documentation by a party without financial interest; C = vendor technical documentation or help centre; D = vendor marketing, press release or case study; E = none.", "date": "The date of the most recent source the cell rests on (YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD).", "verification_status": "Every scored cell carries one: verified (a verifier re-checked the cell's sources), qualified (re-checked; scored against the qualified claim) or unverified. Only verified and qualified cells count; an unverified cell is shown but treated as n/e for admission, k, the quotient and band eligibility.", "product": "The scoring unit is a named product that serves the cohort's buying task, one row per product, each mapped to one record in data/product-register.json. Evidence is not inherited between rows, and an alias or bundle never creates a second row.", "same_standard": "The same evidentiary standard applies to every vendor. Documentation volume is not product quality: a large help centre earns grade C, not a higher score.", "grade_caps": "Vendor documentation (grade C) caps a score at 4 and vendor marketing (grade D) at 3; a grade can cap a score but never raise it. scripts/check.mjs enforces the caps in grade_caps.", "maturity": "Live and beta products may be scored under the caps; announced and retired products are listed in the product register, not scored (check.mjs fails a scored announced or retired cell)." }, "grade_caps": { "C": 4, "D": 3 }, "inclusion_min_scored": 4, "dimensions": [ { "key": "format_execution", "label": "Format execution", "short": "Formats", "definition": "Documented specifications, counting approach (when an impression, view or completion is counted) and creative guidelines for the brand formats the product sells. Breadth of formats is recorded as an attribute, not scored.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that the product no longer offers any brand format (withdrawn or retired).", "1": "Formats named or shown without specifications.", "2": "Specifications for at least one brand format, without a counting approach or creative guidelines.", "3": "Specifications and creative guidelines documented for at least one brand format, with the counting approach missing or covering only some formats.", "4": "Specifications, counting approach and creative guidelines documented for every brand format offered, in vendor documentation.", "5": "For every brand format offered, specifications, a counting approach and creative guidelines are documented in operational detail, and the counting approach is confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } }, { "key": "targeting_context", "label": "Targeting and context", "short": "Targeting", "definition": "Buyer-selectable targeting by context without personal data. In games: genre, named title or title list, in-game or session context, content or age rating, and contextual segments that use no personal data. In game-adjacent media: the game category or title of the content, a channel or property list, content context, content or age rating, and contextual segments that use no personal data. Personal-data audience targeting is recorded but earns no points here.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that buyers cannot choose games, properties or context (run of network only).", "1": "Targeting mentioned without a named signal, or only personal-data audience targeting documented.", "2": "One listed signal documented, or contextual signals available only through a partner with the integration documented.", "3": "Two of the listed signals documented.", "4": "Three or more of the listed signals documented in vendor documentation.", "5": "Three or more of the listed signals (genre; named title or title list; in-game or session context; content or age rating; contextual segments without personal data) selectable by the buyer, documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." }, "anchors_by_cohort": { "adjacent": { "0": "A source documents that buyers cannot choose games, properties or context (run of network only).", "1": "Targeting mentioned without a named signal, or only personal-data audience targeting documented.", "2": "One listed signal documented, or contextual signals available only through a partner with the integration documented.", "3": "Two of the listed signals documented.", "4": "Three or more of the listed signals documented in vendor documentation.", "5": "Three or more of the listed signals (game category or title of the content; channel or property list; content context; content or age rating; contextual segments without personal data) selectable by the buyer, documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } } }, { "key": "measurement_function", "label": "Measurement functionality", "short": "Measurement", "definition": "Measurement available to the buyer as documented functions: viewability, attention, brand lift, reach and frequency, outcome or sales measurement, plus counting aligned to the Intrinsic In-Game Guidelines 2.0 for intrinsic placements only. Independent assurance of these functions is scored in dimension 10, not here. Attention metric definitions follow the attention paper.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that no viewability, attention or lift measurement is available.", "1": "Delivery reporting only (impressions, clicks, completions).", "2": "Measurement functions available only through a partner, with the integration documented.", "3": "Aligned counting with no listed function, or one or two listed functions without documented aligned counting.", "4": "Aligned counting plus two or more of the listed functions, in vendor documentation.", "5": "Counting aligned to the IIG Guidelines 2.0 for intrinsic placements (or, for a product with no intrinsic placements, to the IAB and MRC guideline for its formats), plus three or more of: viewability, attention, brand lift, reach and frequency, outcome or sales measurement; documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." }, "anchors_by_cohort": { "network": { "0": "A source documents that no viewability, attention or lift measurement is available.", "1": "Delivery reporting only (impressions, clicks, completions).", "2": "Measurement functions available only through a partner, with the integration documented.", "3": "Aligned counting with no listed function, or one or two listed functions without documented aligned counting.", "4": "Aligned counting plus two or more of the listed functions, in vendor documentation.", "5": "Counting aligned to the IIG Guidelines 2.0 for intrinsic placements (or, for a product with no intrinsic placements, to the IAB and MRC guideline for its formats), plus three or more of: viewability, attention, brand lift, reach and frequency, outcome or sales measurement; documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." }, "platform": { "0": "A source documents that no viewability, attention or lift measurement is available.", "1": "Delivery reporting only (impressions, clicks, completions).", "2": "Measurement functions available only through a partner, with the integration documented.", "3": "Aligned counting with no listed function, or one or two listed functions without documented aligned counting.", "4": "Aligned counting plus two or more of the listed functions, in vendor documentation.", "5": "Counting aligned to the IIG Guidelines 2.0 for intrinsic placements (or, for a product with no intrinsic placements, to the IAB and MRC guideline for its formats), plus three or more of: viewability, attention, brand lift, reach and frequency, outcome or sales measurement; documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." }, "adjacent": { "0": "A source documents that no viewability, attention or lift measurement is available.", "1": "Delivery reporting only (impressions, views, clicks).", "2": "Measurement functions available only through a partner, with the integration documented.", "3": "One or two of the listed functions documented.", "4": "Three or more of the listed functions, in vendor documentation.", "5": "Four or more of: MRC-standard viewability, attention, brand lift, reach and frequency, outcome or sales measurement; documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } } }, { "key": "optimisation_outcomes", "label": "Optimisation and outcomes", "short": "Outcomes", "definition": "Outcome objectives the buyer can set, in-flight optimisation toward them, and reported results with a stated method (design, sample, comparator, period). Who paid for a reported result is recorded with it.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that the product is bought and reported on delivery only, with no outcome objective or optimisation.", "1": "Optimisation or outcomes claimed in marketing only.", "2": "Results reported in case studies without a stated method.", "3": "Outcome objectives or in-flight optimisation documented, or a result reported with a stated method, but not both.", "4": "Outcome objectives and in-flight optimisation documented, and at least one result reported with a stated method (vendor or commissioned), in vendor documentation.", "5": "Outcome objectives and in-flight optimisation documented, and at least one result reported with a published method by an independent party or in an official document." } }, { "key": "creative_insertion", "label": "Creative and insertion tools", "short": "Creative", "definition": "Tools for getting brand creative into the product's placements, as three features: dynamic insertion (assets swapped in flight without a game or app update), asset tooling (templates, builders, 2D or 3D asset conversion), and AI-assisted placement or generation with documented controls (approval, suitability review or human sign-off). AI without documented controls does not count as the third feature.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that brand creative cannot be changed after launch or that the product accepts no brand creative.", "1": "Creative production offered as a managed service, with no tooling documented.", "2": "Creative tooling available only through a partner, with the integration documented.", "3": "One feature documented in vendor documentation, or two or more described in marketing only.", "4": "Two or three features documented in vendor documentation.", "5": "All three features documented in operational detail and confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } }, { "key": "supply", "label": "Supply", "short": "Supply", "definition": "What the product can deliver into, per cohort. A: named live titles, ad-eligible audience with metric and period, selling rights and exclusivity. B1: the platform's ad-eligible inventory. B2: properties, channels or streams with an audience metric and period. Installed SDKs are not active monetised integrations; sellers.json shows a supply connection, not scale; overlapping reseller supply is flagged and never summed.", "anchors": { "0": "See the cohort anchors.", "1": "See the cohort anchors.", "3": "See the cohort anchors.", "5": "See the cohort anchors." }, "anchors_by_cohort": { "network": { "0": "A source documents that the network has no live supply (wound down or supply withdrawn).", "1": "Supply described with no named live title and no count.", "2": "1 to 4 named live titles, or an aggregate count without metric or period.", "3": "5 to 24 named live titles not meeting 4; or an aggregate title or audience count with metric and period and fewer than 5 named live titles.", "4": "25 or more named live titles; or 10 to 24 named live titles plus an ad-eligible audience figure with metric and period.", "5": "25 or more named live titles, an ad-eligible audience figure with metric and period, and selling rights or exclusivity documented; at least 10 of the titles confirmed by the game's publisher or by independent observation." }, "platform": { "0": "A source documents that the inventory is closed to brand advertising (paused or retired).", "1": "Inventory described with no figure.", "2": "Ad-eligible inventory quantified without metric or period.", "3": "Ad-eligible inventory quantified below those thresholds; or the platform audience quantified without the ad-eligible share; or named ad-eligible titles or experiences without an audience figure.", "4": "The same quantity in vendor documentation; or a filed platform audience of 20 million or more monthly (5 million or more daily) users combined with a vendor-documented ad-eligible share that brings it to that threshold.", "5": "Ad-eligible inventory quantified with metric and period inside the scoring period, at 20 million or more monthly (or 5 million or more daily) ad-eligible users, from a filing or independent measurement." }, "adjacent": { "0": "A source documents that the inventory is closed to brand advertising.", "1": "Properties described with no names or figures.", "2": "Audience quantified without metric or period.", "3": "Audience quantified below 20 million monthly users; or with a metric that is not ad-eligible or not monthly users (registered accounts, hours watched); or named properties without an audience figure.", "4": "The same quantity in vendor documentation.", "5": "Audience of the ad-eligible properties quantified with metric and period inside the scoring period, at 20 million or more monthly users, from a filing or independent measurement." } } }, { "key": "coverage", "label": "Coverage", "short": "Coverage", "definition": "Count of distinct evidenced coverage tuples: device (mobile, PC, console) x distribution (app store, web, cloud, platform launcher) x content environment (premium title, casual title, UGC platform). A tuple is evidenced by at least one named live title or documented live integration in that combination. Web and cloud are distribution values, not environments; each distinct tuple counts once. Not applicable to game-adjacent media, whose ads do not render in a game content environment.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that the product runs in no live environment (retired or withdrawn).", "1": "One evidenced tuple.", "2": "Two evidenced tuples.", "3": "Three evidenced tuples.", "4": "Four or more evidenced tuples in vendor documentation.", "5": "Six or more evidenced tuples, each confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } }, { "key": "programmatic_access", "label": "Programmatic access", "short": "Programmatic", "definition": "Named DSP integrations and deal types (open auction, private marketplace, programmatic guaranteed, curated deals). Protocol support is recorded as evidence fields (protocol name and version; schema representation, implemented connector, demonstrated interoperability test, documented production use, demonstrated transaction) and earns no automatic score step; membership, working-group roles and announcements earn nothing.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that the product is sold direct or by insertion order only.", "1": "Programmatic access claimed without a named DSP or deal type.", "2": "Programmatic access only through a reseller or exchange, with the integration documented.", "3": "One or two named DSP integrations not meeting 4; or programmatic access with named deal types but no named DSP.", "4": "Three or more named DSP integrations and at least one deal type; or two named DSP integrations and two or more deal types.", "5": "Three or more named DSP integrations and two or more deal types, each integration confirmed by the DSP's own documentation or independent observation." } }, { "key": "us_availability", "label": "US availability and coverage", "short": "US", "definition": "Documented availability to US buyers and documented US coverage only. International breadth is recorded as an attribute and earns no points.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that the product is not available in the US.", "1": "US availability implied only by English-language materials or a global claim.", "2": "US availability shown only indirectly (for example a named US advertiser's campaign), without a statement that the product is sold in the US.", "3": "Available to US buyers (US sales contact, US campaigns or US buyer terms documented), without quantified US coverage.", "4": "Available to US buyers, with US coverage quantified as in 5, in vendor documentation.", "5": "Available to US buyers, with US coverage quantified (five or more US-available titles or properties named, or a US audience figure with metric and period), confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } }, { "key": "independent_assurance", "label": "Independent assurance", "short": "Assurance", "definition": "Assurance by parties other than the vendor, each scoped by product, metric, environment and standard: (a) MRC accreditation of a metric of the product, or an MRC audit that MRC confirms is in progress, read from MRC's own record; (b) third-party verification (viewability, invalid traffic, suitability) documented in the product's own environments; (c) another certification on the certifier's own record. A vendor's claim of compliance with a guideline, or its announcement of an audit, is not assurance.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents the denial, lapse, suspension or withdrawal of an accreditation or certification for the product.", "1": "Only a vendor claim of compliance with a guideline or framework, with no accreditor, verifier or certifier record.", "2": "(b) documented for only some of the product's formats or environments.", "3": "(b) alone, or (c) alone.", "4": "(a) confirmed by MRC only for an adjacent environment or as an audit in progress, together with (b); or (b) together with (c).", "5": "(a) for a metric in the product's own environment, together with (b)." } }, { "key": "transparency", "label": "Transparency", "short": "Transparency", "definition": "Title- or property-level reporting to buyers, and supply-path disclosure: the vendor's own sellers.json entry, ads.txt or app-ads.txt on its supply, and disclosure of direct versus reseller relationships.", "anchors": { "0": "A source documents that title- or property-level reporting is not provided (blind network).", "1": "Transparency claimed in marketing without a documented report or file.", "2": "Title- or property-level reporting only on request or for some deals, or partial supply-path disclosure.", "3": "Title- or property-level reporting documented as standard, or supply-path disclosure published, but not both.", "4": "Title- or property-level reporting documented as standard, and a published sellers.json or equivalent supply-path disclosure.", "5": "Title- or property-level reporting documented as standard for buyers, and supply-path disclosure (sellers.json with seller types and direct versus reseller relationships), both confirmed by an official document or independent observation." } }, { "key": "suitability_age_data", "label": "Suitability, age and data controls", "short": "Suitability", "definition": "Three subcriteria recorded separately in each cell: brand-suitability controls (title, content-rating or UGC exclusions; pre-bid or post-bid suitability), age controls (age-gating or age-based limits on delivery, targeting or personalisation, using the platform's own age data), and data practices (what the product collects, how it is used and retained, and how children's data is handled). A subcriterion is in operational detail when the source states what is set, how it is applied and its scope. Documentation is not legal compliance.", "anchors": { "0": "A regulator's or court's finding, within the three years to the cutoff, that the product's age or data practices breached an applicable rule; or a source documents that none of the three controls exists.", "1": "One subcriterion in operational detail, or one or more documented only in outline.", "2": "One subcriterion in operational detail and another documented in outline.", "3": "Two subcriteria documented in operational detail.", "4": "Two subcriteria in operational detail and the third documented in outline.", "5": "All three subcriteria documented in operational detail." } } ], "peer_groups": [ { "key": "network", "label": "Cohort A: in-game ad networks", "definition": "Network services selling brand placements rendered inside games across independent third-party titles." }, { "key": "platform", "label": "Cohort B1: platform and publisher in-game ads", "definition": "Brand ad products on in-game inventory the platform or publisher controls." }, { "key": "adjacent", "label": "Cohort B2: game-adjacent media", "definition": "Brand ad products on gaming sites, companion apps, streams, communities and esports media." } ], "cohorts": [ { "key": "network", "label": "Cohort A: in-game ad networks", "definition": "A network service selling brand placements rendered inside games across independent third-party titles. A reseller of a platform's product inherits that product's cohort.", "applicable": [ "format_execution", "targeting_context", "measurement_function", "optimisation_outcomes", "creative_insertion", "supply", "coverage", "programmatic_access", "us_availability", "independent_assurance", "transparency", "suitability_age_data" ], "banded": true }, { "key": "platform", "label": "Cohort B1: platform and publisher in-game ads", "definition": "Brand ad products on in-game inventory the platform or publisher controls.", "applicable": [ "format_execution", "targeting_context", "measurement_function", "optimisation_outcomes", "creative_insertion", "supply", "coverage", "programmatic_access", "us_availability", "independent_assurance", "transparency", "suitability_age_data" ], "banded": true }, { "key": "adjacent", "label": "Cohort B2: game-adjacent media", "definition": "Brand ad products on gaming sites, companion apps, streams, communities and esports media. Event sponsorship alone is descriptive.", "applicable": [ "format_execution", "targeting_context", "measurement_function", "optimisation_outcomes", "creative_insertion", "supply", "programmatic_access", "us_availability", "independent_assurance", "transparency", "suitability_age_data" ], "banded": true } ], "cohorts_note": "Each cohort lists its applicable dimensions (the mask). A cohort that carries bands (banded: true) needs at least six applicable dimensions and at least one in each group. A dimension may carry anchors_by_cohort { : {5, 3, 1, 0} } where the anchors differ by cohort; every applicable dimension in every cohort needs anchors for at least 5, 3, 1 and 0.", "row_order": [], "matrix_title": "The capability matrix", "matrix_note": "Each cell scores publicly documented capability from 0 to 5 against the dimension's anchors, capped by the evidence grade; n/e means no evidence and n/a means outside the cohort's mask. Open a cell for its sources and reasoning. Rows are compared only within their cohort.", "matrix_foot": "", "composite_index": { "used": true, "name": "Play Quotient (PQ)", "added": "Defined on 28 September 2026 with these scoring rules, before any product was scored, following the shared rules (version 3) for the attention, audio and gaming papers.", "groups": { "Depth": { "label": "Depth", "meaning": "what the product lets a buyer do in the placement: formats, targeting, measurement, optimisation and creative", "dims": [ "format_execution", "targeting_context", "measurement_function", "optimisation_outcomes", "creative_insertion" ] }, "Reach": { "label": "Reach", "meaning": "where it delivers and through which routes: supply, coverage, programmatic access and US availability", "dims": [ "supply", "coverage", "programmatic_access", "us_availability" ] }, "Standing": { "label": "Standing", "meaning": "whether a buyer can check and trust it: independent assurance, transparency, and suitability, age and data controls", "dims": [ "independent_assurance", "transparency", "suitability_age_data" ] } }, "weights": { "Depth": 0.45, "Reach": 0.25, "Standing": 0.3 }, "field_mean_method": "raw_mean", "prior_strength": 4, "shrink_alternatives": [ 0, 2, 8 ], "missing_scenario_values": [ 1, 4 ], "missing_envelope_values": [ 0, 5 ], "bands": [ [ "Most documented", 12 ], [ "Well documented", 1 ], [ "Partly documented", -8 ], [ "Least documented", -1000 ] ], "thin_record_min": 6, "cohort_min_banded": 6, "method": "Within each cohort, over its admitted rows (thin rows included; listed and historical products never count): each group score is the mean of the row's counted numeric cells in the group (n/e, n/a and unverified cells skipped, never zero). Raw = 0.45 Depth + 0.25 Reach + 0.30 Standing, renormalised over the groups present. F = the arithmetic mean of the cohort's Raw scores (field_mean_method raw_mean). Shrunk = (k x Raw + K x F) / (k + K), k = the row's counted numeric cells, K = prior strength 4. Quotient = 100 x Shrunk / 5 at full precision; only the displayed value is rounded, halves up. An empty cohort has no quotient.", "reweightings": [ { "name": "Equal thirds", "weights": { "Depth": 0.3333333333333333, "Reach": 0.3333333333333333, "Standing": 0.3333333333333333 } }, { "name": "Depth-led", "weights": { "Depth": 0.6, "Reach": 0.2, "Standing": 0.2 } }, { "name": "Reach-led", "weights": { "Depth": 0.3, "Reach": 0.45, "Standing": 0.25 } }, { "name": "Standing-led", "weights": { "Depth": 0.3, "Reach": 0.2, "Standing": 0.5 } } ], "why_not_a_sum": "A sum counts an unscored dimension as zero and so penalises a thin public record rather than a weak product; a plain average of scored cells rewards missing evidence. Group means plus shrinkage avoid both.", "limits": "The index summarises documented capability, not performance, and inherits the single-scorer limitation. Bands are reported because exact positions depend on the weights.", "bands_rule": "Bands come from the unrounded offset 20 x (Shrunk - F): Most documented at +12 or more, Well documented at +1 or more, Partly documented at -8 or more, Least documented below (named Front rank, Strong, Mid and Narrow until internal review round 3, to match the audio paper; the thresholds did not change); equal values share a band. These are the Contextual Quotient's offsets.", "thin_rule": "A row is band-eligible with k >= thin_record_min and at least one counted cell in every group that applies under the cohort's mask; a row missing a whole applicable group is shown with that group named and no band. Count the eligible rows first: a cohort with fewer than cohort_min_banded of them shows quotients and coverage without bands.", "shrink_rationale": "Prior strength K = 4 is an author-defined heuristic, not a statistical estimator: the dimensions are different capabilities, not repeated measurements of one quantity. The build reruns the index with K = 0 (Raw), 2 and 8 and reports how far positions and bands move.", "missing_rule": "Missing evidence is not neutral. Deletion: each counted cell turned into n/e in turn, recomputing the row's k and eligibility; quotient change, admission loss and eligibility loss are reported separately. Scenarios (not bounds): row by row, with F and every other row frozen, all of the row's applicable n/e cells filled with missing_scenario_values[0], then [1]; a banded row whose band changes under either is flagged band sensitive to missing evidence. Fills of missing_envelope_values are reported separately as a hypothetical full-scale envelope, never used for the flag. Imputed cells never create admission or band eligibility: the row keeps its observed k and eligibility.", "reweighting_rule": "Each reweighting recomputes Raw and F across the fixed cohort." }, "scorer": { "independent_second_scorer": false, "disclosure": "One scoring pass by the author's research process, applied after the verifier records were read; facts were adversarially verified, scores were not independently re-scored. No inter-rater statistic exists." }, "anchor_conventions": "Dimension anchors are applied first and the evidence cap after (grade C caps at 4, grade D at 3), so a 5 needs an official document, filing or independent observation. Numeric thresholds are inclusive (25 or more means 25 counts). The scoring period for anything described as live is the 12 months to the cutoff, 2 October 2025 to 2 October 2026. A named live title is a distinct title, counted once across devices, that the vendor, the game's publisher or an independent observation names as carrying the product's brand placements inside that period. Operational detail means the source states what is set, how it is applied and its scope. A partner's name alone is n/e; only documented, integrated functionality counts. Audience figures may be for any stated geography; the geography is recorded, US figures are used where both exist, and figures are never summed across vendors without deduplication." }