Hearst Backs TVB On Live+Same Day

Hearst Television today released new evidence from TVB that live-plus-same-day (Live+SD) ratings closely approximates C3 ratings used for network advertising and should be the standard measurement for all spot TV buying.

“With today’s technology, viewers have more options and more control than ever before,” said Jordan Wertlieb, president of Hearst Television. “Clearly our business must be given better credit for viewership in the new landscape.”

The TVB analysis of Nielsen data for June 2013 indicates average-quarter-hour Live+SD ratings were within 6% of C3 ratings for the month.

This represented a year-over-year narrowing from 12% in June 2011 and 8% in June 2012 to 6% in June 2013. This is also the third consecutive month of such changes, with April and May each narrowing the difference between Live+SD and C3 ratings.

At the conclusion of the 2012-13 broadcast season, season-long Live+SD ratings were within 5% of C3 ratings, significantly closer to C3 than Live-Only ratings, which showed a 16% variance.

The season-long data include months in which Live+SD ratings were at near-parity with C3 ratings.