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UPDATES Big Media’s ‘Coalition For Innovative Media Measurement’
UPDATES Big Media To Compete With Nielsen Ratings
I’ve been closely following this open war between Nielsen and its Big Media clients who are rushing to compete with the huge ratings giant. Now Broadcasting & Cable‘s Claire Atkinson has obtained an October 8th letter, penned by Nielsen president of North American media client services, inviting these same competitors to discuss TV and online ratings with the hope of achieving peace.
What Nielsen has in mind now is a single-source measurement system to include internet viewing as part of its TV sample. A client would be able to track both TV and online video viewing of an individual and receive a single figure covering both activities.
The letter describes “a special client meeting in New York City to discuss ‘TV Everywhere’, ‘OnDemand Online’ and similar initiatives and their implications for television audience measurement.” Erichson notes “these initiatives are very compatible with Nielsen’s television ratings system; that is, audiences viewing television programs online could be included in Nielsen’s national TV ratings, including C3.” The letter says the purpose of the meeting is to “discuss the work that Nielsen is doing to develop the capability to measure online video viewing in the National People Meter panel and to share our thoughts on potentially aligning that effort with these industry developments. Most importantly, the purpose of this meeting is to get your feedback and input on these plans.”
The event will take place at NYC’s Harvard Club on October 16. The 75 top clients contacted include top advertisers Procter & Gamble to media giant Time Warner to ad agencies. These are among the same 14 founding members of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) seeking to cpmete with Nielsen by forming their own ratings measurement system.
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Time to re-invent the wheel. The flawed Nielsen system kills some shows while overestimates others. Most of America has cable TV boxes. The cable companies have the ability to track what we watch, they just don’t or won’t do it because of Nielsen’s monopoly on ratings measurement.
Why not just look at an independent outfit to verify what is captured in the set-top boxes? If the insurance industry is looking to PIMCO and Blackrock for new ratings, why not an accounting group that can find new ways to granulate the data? If Nielsen isn’t careful and starts to provide ironclad data then distributors and advertisers will “trust and verify” with someone else.
I’m kinda amazed. Content is now watched on multi platforms, the old “set in the room” idea is dead.
I think no one really wants to see the DVR stats. I know that most folks I know watch hour shows in 40 minutes……..
Nielson ratings makes about as much sense as rabbit ears. It’s time for a change. How many good shows are going to be cancelled before their time because of this antiquated rating system? Move over Nielson – the 21st Century has arrived.
Hello, Nielsen! Once you get a DVR (and figure it out!) you’ll never go back to “TV in the room.” How many shows, especially those at less popular times, have been cancelled due to the antiquated counting of viewers? I say “Bring it on!”
It doesn’t matter if the system is reliable or truthful. As long as ratings are the only thing networks are interested in, TV quality will sink anyway. If advertisers want only young viewers, shows will become more and more vapid, or will be produced the cheapest way possible. Which is why we have lots of “reality” TV and so few quality dramas and character based shows. Younger viewers don’t watch TV, they watch their shows online or don’t watch at all. Networks will cancel shows that don’t draw the right demographic anyway, as they can’t capitalize on shows a minority watches. It doesn’t count if 8 million or 6 million viewers of 40 and older like a show. It doesn’t count if it’s a good show. Money is the only thing counting.