ViewingHabits
Latest
Nielsen & Charter track second-by-second viewing, know you love Hannah Montana
Not content to let Tivo and TNS have all the second-by-second viewer tracking fun, Nielsen has teamed up with Charter Communications to track every moment of viewing from 320,000 households in LA. Nielsen is the most famous rating system, but so far its lagged behind the competition in pulling data directly from set-top's, although even that doesn't tell the whole story. Without its traditional system, there's no way to tell what people really watched, or if they just walked away ten minutes into the Knight Rider remake (We watched all the way through cuz we love The Hoff that much). As far as the viewers tracked (consent is not considered necessary), we just hope they're watching HD.[Via BlogRunner]
DirecTV and TNS partner up to analyze "second-by-second" viewing habits
Listen up, DirecTV users -- select TiVo customers aren't the only ones having their viewing habits inspected with a microscope. Apparently, your satellite provider has just teamed up with TNS Media Research to find a willing audience (read: opt-in participants only) of 100,000 folks that will allow the two to closely analyze exactly what they do when camped in front of the tube. More specifically, TNS is hoping to launch DIRECTView later this year, which will measure "the total viewing [of the aforementioned group], including the live and time-shifted (DVR) viewing of programs and commercials at a second-by-second interval." According to Eric Shanks, EVP of DirecTV Entertainment, the goal here "is to develop a panel capability that will provide important insights across its advertising platform," which will "in turn provide its advertisers and programming partners [with] an unparalleled level of measurement accuracy and accountability." It's also pretty creepy, but unfortunately, not at all surprising.
TiVo launches division to collect, sell data on ad viewing
Talk about having your cake and eating it too: after having sent the advertising industry into a tizzy by enabling consumers to skip over its commercials, TiVo is now offering to sell those very same ad agencies and their clients hard data on the actual effects of DVR usage. The company's new Audience Research and Measurement division will initially utilize a random sampling of 22,000 subscribers to provide corporate customers with information about specific ads -- such as how many people viewed them during certain airings -- though the numbers will not be tied to specific demographic details. It will also use the collected data to tease out trends that may help advertisers combat the growing "problem" of commercial skipping; for instance, the type of program hosting an ad and its position in the commercial block may explain why it was viewed more often during one broadcast than another. This new offering may see TiVo heading towards a marketplace showdown with ratings giant Nielsen Media Research, whose own ad-tracking initiative is scheduled to launch this fall -- although it will not actually collect data on individual commercials. Once again, we've really got to hand it to TiVo -- the company that once looked poised for bankruptcy in the face of increasing DVR commodification has once again managed to stay in the game by leveraging the power of its considerable subscriber base to further diversify its revenue stream.
