Nielsen offers raw ratings data, ’stunning’ stats
Cory Bergman December 8th, 2006
As we’ve been reporting, broadcasters and media buyers have been up in arms over how to classify and value ratings data when it comes to commercials and time-shifted viewing. Now Nielsen says it will offer its clients raw data that will enable the industry to start using commercial ratings their own way — if they want. Also, it appears that a consensus is beginning to emerge on how to value time-shifted viewing. In a meeting yesterday, Nielsen released updated stats that showed that DVR playback is growing faster than the industry (but not Lost Remote) initially thought: 40 percent of all viewing in DVR households in the 18-49 demo is time-shifted. “The data you just showed is stunning,” said NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel, declaring, “The future of half of all viewing is time-shifted. If not now, certainly in a year or two, ‘live’ is going to be a completely irrelevant measure.” MediaPost reports that both ad buyers and broadcasters began to agree that time-shifted viewing should count when determining ad rates, although only time-shifted viewing that occurs “one or a few days of an original telecast.”
6 Comments Add your own
1. Rex | December 8th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Really? 100% of my watching is time-shifted.
2. Cory | December 8th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
If I count all the sports I watch, around 70% of my programming is time-shifted.
3. Echy | December 8th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
The only thing I see live is football. But I’m probably at 95% as many of the football games wind up getting paused at some point.
4. Hussman | December 11th, 2006 at 6:36 am
I’m with Echy… I watch football live only, and as a family, the only show we watch live is ‘Biggest Loser’ All else is still taped. Yes, taped.
By a VCR.
From 1991.
I don’t have cable, but I do have a set top DTV converter box.
5. Walter Graff | December 11th, 2006 at 8:09 am
Does anyone read anymore before they make statments?
The quoted statistic says “40 percent of all viewing in DVR households in the 18-49 demo is time-shifted “
Alan Wurtzel said “The future of half of all viewing is time-shifted. If not now, certainly in a year or two, ‘live’ is going to be a completely irrelevant measure.”
He ought to read before he makes statements. 40% of what most agree is about 11% of the entire viewing public (eg DVR users) is not 40% of ALL half of all viewing. It’s about as many people who watch the number one local news in a top five market. It’s sad that marketing has created continuous myths and predictions that never materialize.
6. Ratboy | January 19th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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