MediaBuyerPlanner: During a Nielsen Media Research meeting yesterday (Thursday) with more than 100 clients, Nielsen announced that it would make commercial ratings available for all dayparts for intervals of up to seven days, beginning April 24, 2007.
The data, which will include DVR playback numbers, will potentially allow the TV industry to use commercial ratings as ad-buying currency, but buyers are concerned that the ratings release date is too close to the television upfront to allow for proper time for analysis, writes Adweek.
“It seems like this timetable will preclude us from having enough time to analyze the data…to make sure it is accurate and usable,” Lyle Schwartz, svp, director of research and audience analysis at GroupM is quoted as saying. “I am disappointed that we will not have the complete data sooner.”
CBS’s David Poltrack says his network will allow buyers to use the commercial ratings during the upfront, rather than programming numbers, if they so choose.
The new Nielsen data will come as part of its regular syndicated ratings package, which includes program ratings.
There are still problems with the ratings, according to buyers, such as how to measure commercials viewed via VCR. The Nielsen system has no way, currently, to provide information on whether commercials are played back in regular mode or fast forwarded, but Nielsen plans to do a study among households to establish a new metric that would take that question into account, says Poltrack.
During the same meeting, a consensus seemed to emerge between both buyers and sellers emerged that the combination of live and time-shifted viewing makes more sense as advertising currency than live viewing, alone.
The agreement seemed to take place after Nielsen exposed new research that showed that the share of viewing occurring via DVR playback is growing faster than many have thought, writes MediaPost.
Nielsen’s research showed that more than 40 percent of all prime-time viewing by adults 18-49 is done in playback mode in DVR households. DVR households currently represent only about 11 percent of Nielsen’s sample, of course, but the impact is still significant.
“The data you just showed is stunning,” NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel is quoted as saying. “The future of half of all viewing is time-shifted. If not now, certainly in a year or two, ‘live’ is going to be a completely irrelevant measure.”
Related stories:
- Nielsen Halts Commercial Ratings Release Yet Again
- TNS Asks for Head-to-Head Test against Nielsen
- NBC’s Cable Networks Opt out of Commercial Ratings
- Nielsen to Release Commercial Minute Ratings Dec. 11
- Poltrack: CBS to Release Cable Commercial Minutes if Nielsen Doesn’t
- CBS’s Poltrack: Increased DVR Use to Boost Commercial Ratings
- NBC, Mediaedge:cia Call for Commercial Ratings Summit
- 4As Demands Removal of VCR Data from Commercial Ratings
- Magna: Nielsen’s Commercial Ratings Not a Better Solution
- Commercial Ratings 7% Lower Than Program Ratings
