NOV
30
1 years

Nielsen reacts to big media’s ratings plan

6:03 AM PST 11/30/2010 by James Hibberd

Nielsen Media Research issued a response to last week's Financial Times scoop detailing how several networks are joining forces to create their own TV ratings measurement system.

The Times reported that NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom, CBS, Discovery and Walt Disney are planning to launch their own system in September that combines linear and digital viewing. Networks, particularly broadcasters, have been frustrated by declining Nielsen ratings as viewers have increasingly used time-shifting DVRs and watched content online.

On Monday, Nielsen issued a statement to its employees addressing to the news:

As you know, our Company is committed to measuring across all screens – known in the industry as "three screens": television, computer and mobile – as part of our long-term strategy. Over the last three years, we’ve invested more than a billion dollars in research and development as part of this effort. As with all of our measurement science, we’re working closely with our clients, whose input and engagement has been consistent and constructive.

You may have read the Financial Times article published late last week, or the subsequent articles appearing in a number of publications over the weekend, about the potential formation of a new three screen consortium. While our Company policy is not to respond to speculation or future announcements, we have been in direct contact with many of our clients, including some cited in the original article. Much of what was reported by the Financial Times remains unclear, and many of our clients are themselves looking for answers to questions raised by the story. What is clear, however, is that three screen measurement is at the center of our strategy. Just as clear is the commitment of some of our largest clients who have recently renewed multi-year contracts with us for television, online, mobile and other measurement services.

We continue to move forward helping our clients understand and measure media consumption anytime, anywhere.

The companies included in the ratings cabal have been largely silent since the Times story broke. Reaction within the industry has been mixed. As Nikki Finke pointed out, big media companies doing their own ratings is a bit like the fox guarding the hen house (or, in this case, the Fox).

Yet there's also little doubt in the industry that ratings measurement needs to evolve. Rather than a blizzard of numbers representing every fraction of the audience, at some point there needs to be a new agreed upon standard that takes multiple platforms into account. The evolution also needs to take place on the reporting side, too. The preliminary overnights are becoming an increasingly narrow way to look at the popularity of a show, though do they still give a reasonable idea of how a show performed compared to competitors, and whether a series getting more or less popular as time goes on.

[Disclosure: The Live Feed is published by The Hollywood Reporter, which is owned by Nielsen]


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