Nielsen's plan to release online television ratings in conjunction with its regular TV ratings will roll out next fall could have an impact on the number of types of ads that are run on such online content sites as Hulu.
The online ratings will be combined with Nielsen’s C3 rating, which measures TV viewing and three days of DVR viewing. Nielsen will pull online viewing data from 7,500 of the 12,000 households currently in its National People Meter Sample, according to Variety.
The company is in the process of installing internet meters in those households; it expects to finish installation by August.
Service Won’t Work with Network Sites, Hulu
But the new service will only work when the online version of the television program carries the same ads that run in the TV telecast, whereas typically, online episodes of television shows carry fewer and different advertisers than their television counterparts. This means that the new service will not factor in online viewing via Hulu or via official network websites like abc.com.
This could lead to a trend of networks becoming more determined to run the same ads in online episodes, which would mean more ads for viewers, writes MediaBuyerPlanner.
The new service will work with Comcast’s TV Everywhere initiative, the new Fancast Xfinity, an on-demand, streaming TV service which will be available to those who subscribe to both Comcast’s digital cable and internet services. The Extended Screen reporting service will also work with Time Warner Cable’s upcoming TV Everywhere service.
Schedule of Release
Ratings will be released at first as evaluation data, sometime during the fourth quarter, alongside standard production data which will be released as usual. Evaluation data will cease being produced by the end of February, at which time standard Nielsen production data will include online viewing, writes MediaPost.
The measurement company’s plans to put internet meters into its TV panel homes came under fire by some Nielsen clients when it was announced in 2008. Clients worried that the people being measured for their TV viewing may behave differently if their internet viewing is also being measured.
