Nielsen Agrees to Expand Definition of TV Viewing
2/21/2013
by Alex Ben Block


The Nielsen Co. is expanding its definition of television and will introduce a comprehensive plan to capture all video viewing including broadband, video game consoles and iPads, several sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The decision to expand beyond traditional TV ratings measurement came out of a meeting in New York on Tuesday of the What Nielsen Measures Committee, a group that has been meeting for nearly a year. The committee is composed of representatives from major TV networks, local TV stations, cable TV networks, advertising agencies and some big brand advertisers.

The decisions made by the committee are not binding but a source at one of the big four networks was ecstatic at the prospect of expanded measurement tools. The networks for years have complained that total viewing of their shows isn't being captured by traditional ratings measurements. This is a move to correct that.







By September 2013, when the next TV season begins, Nielsen expects to have in place new hardware and software tools in the nearly 23,000 TV homes it samples. Those measurement systems will capture viewership not just from the 75 percent of homes that rely on cable, satellite and over the air broadcasts but also viewing via devices that deliver video from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, from so-called over-the-top services and from TV enabled game systems like the XBox and PlayStation.

While some use of iPads and other tablets that receive broadband in the home will be included in the first phase of measurement improvements, a second phase is envisioned to include such devices in a more comprehensive fashion. The second phase is envisioned to roll out on a slower timetable, according to sources, will the overall goal to attempt to capture video viewing of any kind from any source.

Nielsen is said to have an internal goal of being able to measure video viewing on an iPad by the end of this year, a process in which the company will work closely with its clients.







The shift doesn’t mean Nielsen will begin to provide ratings data for, say, Netflix. Nielsen will capture how much time is spent on that kind of viewing, but to actually provide ratings, Netflix would have to agree to encode its program signals so that Nielsen software can identify them and trace their source. The traditional TV networks do encode their signals to be compatible with Nielsen’s measurement tools.

Nielsen already captures a small amount of out-of-home viewing, such as at a few colleges. If a student comes from a Nielsen home, his or her TV viewing is tracked when the student goes off to college.



Nielsen also has a “customized” program to capture some viewing in places like college dorms, bars and restaurants. While Nielsen wants to expand its measurement out of home, that is not part of this initiative. Nielsen appears to be waiting until it acquires Arbitron, which does more such out of home measurement, before making that a priority.

A spokesperson for Nielsen declined to comment.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nielsen-agrees-expand-definition-tv-422795

I think its good that they are doing this. The Nielsen ratings, as many people on here stated is a rather dated concept. I think its a great that they are taking it a step further. But there will be problems such as people who record their TV shows and people who change the channel during the commercials (Which in my opinion, is the biggest problem). But we'll have to wait and see what they do about that.

i think its a good idea, but they are still a ways away from actually measuring what people are really watching online.

..although i think that the CW is in for a rude awakening if they think that measuring online viewing would actually help their ratings; sure, they have a lot of people that view their shows online, but so do all the other networks, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it made their overall ratings actually go DOWN compared to the other nets.

I'm still trying to imagine watching TV on an iPad.

Doesn't Nielsen only count the boxes that are tuned into the ads, thus making the viewers that are tuned into a program irrelevant if they're changing the channel during the commercials? So not only is Nielsen only monitoring a very small sample size, but actually discounting the portion that skip ads.


Frankly, they need an entire new system put in place. Adding a few more devices to track is not really changing the system.

it's a step in the right direction for sure but they don't have a real great way to measure everything - people watch on TV, DVR, online, Netflix, through mobile devices, in one chunk on a DVD set, etc. It'll be hard to get all that counted in a way that everyone feels is fair and accurate

IMO Nielson needs to find a way to measure how many people are watching the COMMERCIALS and what commercials are being skipped. It might just cause a reduction in those kinds of ads thast make our blood BOIL! :mad: :angryfire

it's a step in the right direction for sure but they don't have a real great way to measure everything - people watch on TV, DVR, online, Netflix, through mobile devices, in one chunk on a DVD set, etc. It'll be hard to get all that counted in a way that everyone feels is fair and accurate

Tracking Netflix wouldn't be accurate, because by the time they get a TV show, it's usually last season's episodes on DVD. They should be tracking the initial telecasts.

Nielsen To Measure Online TV Viewing with Digital Program Ratings
04/30/2013


Nielsen will now measure audiences who view TV content online with their new Nielsen Digital Program Ratings.

The pilot program includes A&E, ABC, AOL, CBS, The CW, Discovery, Fox, NBC and Univision. The test begins in May and will run through July.



“The pilot for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is a major milestone for the industry,” Eric Solomon, SVP for Global Digital Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a statement.

“As a companion product to Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will enable clients to better understand the online audience for their programming by harnessing the same methodology Nielsen already uses to measure the audience for related advertising.”



Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will provide overnight audience data such as unique audience, stream counts and reach by age and gender for TV programming viewed online.

A commercial release for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is targeted for later in 2013 when Nielsen hopes to expand to additional content types and devices.







This is just the latest change Nielsen has announced to further understand the changing TV landscape. In February, Nielsen announced it will begin measuring broadband viewership. The company also announced it will partner with Twitter to measure social TV chatter.

"The potential to measure video viewing of specific programs on linear TV as well as the Internet is significant," Alan Wurtzel, President of Research and Media Development at NBCUniversal, said in a statement.

"It's an important step toward reaching the ‘holy grail’ of true cross-platform measurement."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/30/nielsen-online-tv-viewing-digital-program-ratings_n_3185617.html?