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Nielsen starts breaking down TV streams by device next month
Nielsen already tracks what you're watching via gizmos like Apple TV, Roku and PlayStation, but has always lumped those viewing statistics together. That changes come April 25th when the ratings-minded folks start breaking over-the-top viewership data (Netflix or Hulu, for example) down by device, according to Variety. The "brand-level" connected device data will pull from Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and Xbox in addition to the ones mentioned above. This should give content owners a better idea of what platforms their programming is being watched on most.
Nielsen adds Facebook to its social television ratings
Since 2013, Nielsen leverages Twitter chatter to gauge how popular a television show is on the web. Starting in a few months, those social ratings will include Facebook. Neilsen's new Social Content Ratings will replace its Twitter TV Ratings to track live activity on sporting events, awards shows and original series.
Prime-time TV enjoys its highest ratings since 2007
The drastic change in the way people consume media has stirred up the argument that TV as we knew it is dead. But while prime-time ratings have dipped since the rise of services like Netflix and solid programming from networks such as AMC and HBO, the first quarter of 2014 has been very kind to prime-time TV in the US. According to a report from MoffettNathanson, prime-time TV ratings saw a surge of four percent compared to the previous quarter, and in the process marked the first time TV has seen any sort of growth since over a year ago. As Re/code notes, researcher Michael Nathanson says this is television's "best performance since the last quarter of 2007." But there's a reason for this: Nathanson points out that the increase in TV ratings is largely due to major events that have taken place this year, including the Oscars, the Sochi Winter Olympics, playoff games from the NFL and, most recently, the NCAA's March Madness tournament. We'll see if ratings can keep up this momentum going forward, but, at least for the time being, it's safe to say good ol' TV is far from being put to rest
Nielsen study shows connection between TV ratings and Twitter activity
In recent years, social media has altered the way we interact with each other, and according to a Nielsen study released today, it's also changing the way we consume media. While it may sound like a common sense conclusion to anyone who witnessed the storm of tweets surrounding the SyFy phenomenon Sharknado, Nielsen has uncovered a statistical link between what people tweet and what people watch. Basically, the more people tweet about a particular show, the more people will watch it. Likewise, the higher a program's viewership, the more likely people are to discuss it on Twitter in real time. Certain types of programming -- reality TV, comedies and sports -- showed a higher percentage of ratings changes influenced by social media, while things like scripted dramas showed a smaller but still noticeable uptick. The times are a-changin', and studies like this one are bound to inspire broadcasters and advertisers to change with them.
Nielsen includes Internet viewers for the first time, estimates that there are now 115.6 million TV homes in the US
Following a tweak in how Nielsen defines homes with TVs, it's noted a reversal in the two-year decline of TV household numbers. This adjustment has apparently increased Nielsen's estimate of TV homes by 1.2 percent, up to 115.6 million. The definition now extends to include viewers that take their TV through broadband internet, with qualifying households having both the high-speed connection and "at least one operable TV/monitor with the ability to deliver video." This new wording encompasses anyone who watches channels through their Xbox, Apple TV and other data-based services. Nielsen will begin including these extra homes in its sampling starting in September, but we're still waiting to see what it does with its wider metrics for both streaming viewers and social networks.
GroupM and Nielsen work to combine online and TV metrics
For too long Nielsen ratings have dealt with TV commercials and web ads as completely separate entities. Episodes of your favorite show streamed through a service like Hulu or from the channel's website often didn't get factored into the pricing and sales of television ads, and vice versa. That is about to change, however, as the media monitoring company has joined forces with GroupM to create Nielsen Cross-Platform Campaign Ratings. The new product will combine its Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, which measures internet advertising, with its traditional TV monitoring service to create a medium-agnostic tool for creating media metrics. Hopefully, with a unified pool of data and better monitoring services, content producers may be more likely to experiment with online distribution -- especially if they influence the flagship ratings. Check out the complete PR after the break.
