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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.
Nielsen to use watermarks to enhance local channel rating accuracy
While we're watching our favorite shows in HD, it's easy to forget that they live and die by ratings, and those ratings aren't always collected with the latest technology. In an effort to improve the sample size and accuracy of ratings for local TV channels, Nielsen is starting to roll out a hybrid technology consisting of watermarks and return data from supporting pay-TV provider's set-top boxes, like DirecTV and Charter. The first three markets to get the upgrade are St. Louis, Dallas and Charlotte, with 17 yet to be announced markets to follow in 2013, and finally, the remaining 190 about two years after that. The system will work in parallel with the older Local People Meters and Diaries for three to six months and will lay the groundwork to collect ratings for online, tablets and other platforms. All the inside industry details and more are in the release after the break.
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.
Nielsen: Android still top dog, but Q4 buyers preferred iPhone 4S
Nielsen crunched Q4 numbers today, and the results will likely have Apple analysts jumping up and down. The findings, focused on those who've purchased a smartphone within the previous three months, indicate a huge spike -- from 25 percent in October to 45 percent in December -- in iPhone purchases since October as an obvious result of the launch of the 4S. Conversely, the number of recent Android buyers fell by 14 percent in the same period. Of course, these numbers are directly affected by Apple's latest product launch and by no means should be any indicator that Apple is poised to win the battle against its bitter rival, as iOS continues to trail Android by over 16 percent in market share. Looking at the war for the third spot, RIM's US market share declined by 2.9 percent from Q3 to Q4, falling to 14.9 percent -- not a surprise, since it only captured the hearts of six percent of recent buyers this quarter -- and Windows Phone slightly increased from 1.2 to 1.3 percent. Full press release and chart can be found after the break.
Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., leader of TV ratings and market research firm, dies at 92
Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., the man who turned the A.C. Nielsen Company into a global leader in market research and television ratings, has died at the age of 92. Nielsen's father founded the company in 1923 and was known for spearheading much of the innovation behind it, but it was the younger Nielsen who led the firm to prominence, after joining in 1945 and taking over as president in 1957. In 1948, he convinced the firm to devote $150,000 to building the first general-purpose computer, the Univac. Building off of his father's revolutionary TV audience measurement system, he later expanded A.C. Nielsen's reach to new areas, including the development of a coupon clearinghouse and data-tracking services for magazines and even oil wells. Perhaps his most impressive achievement, however, was his ability to maintain A.C. Nielsen's position as the nation's pre-eminent TV and media ratings firm, even amidst the proliferation of cable networks. Arthur "Art" Nielsen stepped down from his role as chairman of the company in 1983, a year before orchestrating its sale to the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation for $1.3 billion in stock. Throughout the course of his illustrious career, he served on the board of more than 20 companies, including Motorola and Walgreen, and advised three US presidents. But his life's work and lasting legacy could just as well be summarized by a simple proverb he learned from his father: "If you can put a number on it, then you know something." Arthur C. Nielsen passed away on October 4th in Winnetka, Illinois. He is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.
Nielsen report ranks gaming usage for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 consoles
Nielsen's just released their anxiously awaited "State of the Video Gamer" report, and while it's a real page-turner, there aren't exactly any surprises in store for readers. Conducted in December of 2008, Nielsen investigated use of the three major consoles -- the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and the PS3. The study found that of those three, owners of the Xbox 360 got the most use out of their console -- an average of 11.4 percent of the time for the duration of the poll, while the PS3 came in a close second at 10.6 percent. The original Xbox followed directly behind that with 10.2 percent, while Wii owners gamed a sad 6.8 percent of the time... far less than that of even PS2 owners. The Wii also came in last place in terms of total days used during the poll, with an average of 5 days (PS3 and Xbox 360 users averaged 6.8 and 7.1, respectively). Hit the read link for the full, breathtaking study and see how you measure up! [Warning: read link is a PDF] Update: As tangocat (and maveric101) point out in comments, we misread the chart the first time out, mistaking the Xbox stats for the Xbox 360 numbers. We've cleared that up -- good looking out! [Via Joystiq]
How iTunes saved NBC's 'The Office'
Our old friend Dave pointed us to a Newsday article discussing how iTunes essentially took NBC's The Office off the chopping block, where it was headed last year after disappointing Nielsen ratings, and catapulted it to "the Seinfeld of iTunes." If you're not a Seinfeld fan that might be meaningless to you, but trust me when I say It's the BEST, Jerry! The BEST!* Only recently did The Office cede the top spot to Lost as the single most downloaded program weekly, not to mention nabbing an Emmy (well-deserved, IMO) for Best Comedy. Angela Bromstead, president of NBC Universal, which owns and produces The Office had this to say: "I'm not sure that we'd still have the show on the air." The network had only ordered so many episodes, but when it went on iTunes and really started taking off, that gave us another way to see the true potential other than just Nielsen. It just kind of happened at a great time." Of course Nielsen is getting hip to the power of iTunes + iPod itself these days.Newer shows like 30 Rock and Jericho are also expected to be a big iTunes sellers when/if they hit the iTS, despite their currently poor Nielsen showings and may save their respective fates as well.The article goes on to talk about what doesn't sell well on iTunes. "Nielsen hits such as CSI: Miami or NCIS are no-shows in the top 50. The Simpsons? Nada (which is not on iTunes at all... even though Prison Break is a stalwart). What does any of this mean? Who knows - except, perhaps that serials and guy-oriented shows are the biggest beneficiaries of the iTunes effect." Personally I think iTunes is only part of this revolution. The networks themselves are getting smarter about putting their shows online, on their own websites, which may not be as convenient or trendy as iTunes, but it's certainly a start. With all the timeshifting and placeshifting going on these days anyway, Prime Time Television as we have known it for many years is going away sooner rather than later. iTunes is really only the beginning of the revolution. It's not the be all and end all.Thanks, Dave! *It's purely coincidence that I had not one, but two opportunities to reference Seinfeld today. Life is good.
