Nielsen

The ratings firm says it’s moving the introduction of its new system that would replace paper diaries from Oct. 1 to January following “significant feedback” from clients concerned about the so-called “viewer assignment” methodology the new system is using to derive demographic data for stations in smaller markets from larger local people-meter markets, some located far away.

As the October deadline by which Nielsen hopes to start rolling out its replacement for the paper diary nears, some broadcasters are upset. They say the initial results from the code reader system are giving them lower ratings and questionable demos. Meanwhile, the Media Rating Council is taking a hard look before giving the system its blessing.

With 73% of Americans age 12 and up actively consuming movies and TV shows for home viewing, it’s important to understand the habits of such a powerful volume of consumers. Are they sticking with physical discs or moving to digital?

CBS Research boss David Poltrack says within five years, more sophisticated measurements will prove that the audience for CBS program content is growing across all platforms.

National Research Group began laying off employees Thursday as Nielsen prepares the company for a sale. Sources said talks have been ongoing to sell the research unit. In June, Nielsen hired banker Jordan Edmiston to explore a possible sale of NRG, which is one of the largest companies in entertainment that provides market research — that critically important film tracking — to the movie studios.

Live TV PUT levels, which represent the percent of the Nielsen measure People Using TV, continues to drift lower. In June, primetime live TV PUTs witnessed a 6% decline versus a year ago to a 22.9% PUT level, according to MoffettNathanson Research analysis from Nielsen data. Live PUTs still dominates all usage among core 18-49 users. Time-shifted primetime TV viewing also declined — 5% to 4.1 PUT level.

As Nielsen prepares to make the biggest changes to its national TV ratings methods since it introduced the people meter in 1987, some of its biggest customers — broadcast and cable networks — held a vote to determine whether they should put pressure on Nielsen to delay the move past this fall when it is scheduled to start. The vote failed to reach a consensus so they will continue monitoring the situation as the new ratings begin to impact the marketplace.

Little surprise from Nielsen’s first look at weekly usage and reach of media devices and platforms: TV is still way ahead — especially in terms of competing video platforms. Looking specifically at video, TV has a more commanding lead in terms of usage: 36 hours and 7 minutes for TV; 1 hour and 30 minutes for video on a PC; 13 minutes of watching video on smartphone; and 11 minutes for video on a tablet.

The TV world may love to hate Nielsen, but now the measurement giant is arming media companies with a new report that could aid their fight against digital rivals. The message of Nielsen’s new Total Audience Report: comparing online video views with the audience of a TV program is an apples-and-oranges endeavor.

Many consumers have an annual Father’s Day tradition: Figuring out a unique gift to give dear old dad. Does he want more than grill accessories and ties? To find out what dads are really paying attention to, Nielsen recently analyzed the top 10 English-language ads among dads in the U.S. over the first half of 2015. And one thing is certain—whether it’s having help regarding yearly finances, protecting investments or considering the best way to connect with content, advertisements that promoted service-based companies were a big hit among fathers.

Nielsen is releasing a report on television-related Twitter activity in the U.S. from Sept. 1, 2014 through May 24, 2015. And while CBS consistently tops the weekly Nielsen ratings for viewers, it’s an also-ran when it comes to Twitter.

There’s no shortage of opinions today about media fragmentation and which avenue is best for reaching a specific audience — especially amid a digital deluge. Truth be told, however, marketers that take a narrow approach will likely leave plenty of opportunity on the table, as new data shows just how effective cross-platform campaigns are when compared against those that focus on a single option.

When it comes to TV program engagement, networks and advertisers see value in social media. One reason for that is because high Twitter activity around TV programs is indicative of high viewer engagement. Networks also turn to social media to understand how program-related buzz relates to audience tune-in, and advertisers and agencies have seen that paid media placements in highly social programs can significantly boost earned media for their brands. But can we identify what makes a program social?

TV station executives — particularly those in small diary-only markets — say the more detailed and immediate Rentrak numbers have improved their selling position, and media agencies say they like Rentrak’s melding of viewership and product purchasing data. Challenges remain, however, including figuring out how to track mobile, tablet, online and OTT viewing.

In a move that industry execs say is tantamount to a gag order, Nielsen this week sent a tersely worded warning to clients that they would be violating the “permissible use” terms of their contracts if they disclose any of the so-called “impact” data it has begun releasing this month as part of its aggressive ratings sample expansion plan.

Results from the ratings service’s new “code-reader” viewer measuring system that is set to replace the age-old paper diaries become available in June and what the data will look like is anybody’s guess. Uncertainty over the new system, its accuracy, its impact and its pricing appears widespread in the 14 markets where the new system is being introduced.

In a press briefing held Thursday, executives from Nielsen suggested cable subscribers who also have a subscription video-on-demand service are more likely to drop the SVOD than they are cable. In fact, according to Nielsen data, 93% of homes who had both services were more likely to keep the cable and instead drop broadband or SVOD offerings, said Glenn Enoch, SVP of audience insights for the measurement and data service.

Nielsen’s firing back at critics, including media execs, who say that the ratings agency fails to count people who watch TV on digital platforms. It can count them — and even include them in audience tallies. But networks and advertisers won’t let them, Nielsen exec Megan Clarken said yesterday.

Our viewing patterns are shifting and can now watch where we want, when we want. The explosion of devices has given us more access to content and brands than ever before. While the television is still the screen of choice for viewing video content, device proliferation and social-media interaction is shifting the power from the provider to the people.

How does paid TV advertising affect a brand’s earned social media? Drawing a direct link between the two, new research from Nielsen shows how a recent Microsoft TV campaign significantly increased the brand’s social presence. Social TV activity — as opposed to TV viewership — is the key in driving earned media.

Former Salesforce product marketer is charged with bolstering Nielsen’s marketing efforts and SaaS selling capabilities.

Heavy viewers and listeners are often considered the “super fans” of the media ecosystem. These power users devote significant hours of their lives to one medium or another and are the most likely to consistently engage with content and advertising found on those channels. Aligning with the famous “pareto principle,” which states that 80% of consumption comes from 20% of the participants, heavy media users make up the lion’s share of the usage in markets all across the U.S.

In a move that seems to reposition itself from its original intent of measuring the audiences of online advertising, Nielsen this morning announced a rebranding of its fledgling Online Campaign Ratings service as the Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. “The new name better describes Nielsen’s total digital view, inclusive of mobile,” Nielsen said in a statement explaining the name change, but the term digital likely could be used to position it across other digital advertising platforms as they emerge.

Planning and buying advertising is no easy feat these days, thanks to a rapidly changing media landscape and a shifting population base. And no discussion about advertising would be complete without factoring in the evolving online landscape, particularly as topics like programmatic and viewability dominate so many of today’s conversations. The crux of any campaign should really come down to three key things: are you reaching the right audience, is your message meaningful to that audience and did the message inspire them to do something.

Nielsen will begin offering data on viewing by Netflix and Amazon Prime subscribers for the first time starting midyear, CEO Mitch Barns said Tuesday. “That will be the last significant portion of overall television content viewing that we don’t already measure,” Barns said.

Twitter has quickly become the modern water cooler for TV audiences, but it’s also proven to be a viable tool for networks seeking to drive audience tune-in and advertisers looking to amplify brand messaging beyond TV. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, recent Nielsen research found that Twitter TV volumes can tell them more than just who’s reacting to TV on Twitter—they can also tell how engaged general viewing audiences are with the shows they watch.

Traditional television watching is declining faster than ever as streaming services become a mainstream feature in American homes, according to new research by Nielsen. Adults watched an average of four hours and 51 minutes of live TV each week in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 13 minutes from the same quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen’s fourth-quarter 2014 Total Audience Report. Viewing was down six minutes between the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2012. And between 2012 and 2011, viewing time actually increased for live TV.

It’s certainly no secret that media people have beefs with Nielsen, and every so often they like to clear the air. Last week the American Association of Advertising Agencies released a white paper asking Nielsen to address problems with the paper diary system that’s currently used in 154 markets. The paper came from a committee co-chaired by Annalect’s Jon Cogan and Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate. Cogan and Adgate talk about changes they’d like to see from Nielsen, why Media Rating Council involvement is needed, and whether we’ll ever see electronic meters in every market.

The ratings firm says the purchase will give Nielsen clients aggregated consumer segments from more than 200 data providers to drive programmatic ad buying.

As Nielsen begins implementing some of the biggest changes to its TV ratings methods since the introduction of the people meter, the world’s biggest media buyers say the researcher is ignoring a vital part of the mix that is putting billions of TV advertising dollars at risk: the paper-and-pencil diary that is still the currency for most of America’s local TV markets.

Tribune Media’s renewal with Nielsen comes about a month after the broadcaster surprised some in the industry by also agreeing to use Rentrak audience measurement data at its 42 TV stations — including for its TV Everywhere streaming efforts.

Magna Global’s Stefanie Morales: “Last week Nielsen announced key rollout dates for its previously stated measurement enhancements. Judging by the quotes we’ve seen in the press, some of our colleagues are concerned with using modeling for demographic estimates. Here is why we support it.”

Consumers may tune into TV on a regular basis, but they mentally tune out rather fast in favor of the array of “second screen” options. On average, television holds a consumer’s attention only 39% of the time — a rate that pales in comparison to the attention rates that laptops (70%), tablets (76%) and smartphones (77%) command. That’s according to a new report from Nielsen and YuMe, a digital video ad tech firm.

The new deal provides Nielsen’s TV ratings service for all 162 of Sinclair’s owned or operated stations.

Nielsen today is expected to announce plans to begin rolling out a controversial method it says will fix some antiquated parts of its local TV measurement system: a process that would effectively use mathematical modeling to estimate the audience composition and demographics of much of its local TV ratings estimates. The move is part of a broader “sample expansion plan” to boost the number of households and persons represented in all of Nielsen’s ratings estimates.

It’s certainly no secret media buyers have been frustrated by the slow pace at which Nielsen has begun measuring new media streams. Though second-screen viewing on smartphones and tablets has been growing at a rapid pace, the company only recently began measuring mobile viewership. John Morse, president and chief strategist at Byron Media, a media research consulting company, talks about what buyers really want, why it has taken so long for these changes to come about, and who stands to benefit from them.

Financial news network CNBC will no longer rely on TV ratings specialist Nielsen to measure its daytime audience, beginning later this year. Instead, it has retained marketing and research firm Cogent Reports for the task.

Social TV is no longer a new phenomenon. Millions of people take to Twitter to share their passions about their favorite programming in the heat of the moment — as the moments happen. While the majority of the conversations happen during live broadcasts, as networks look to boost fan engagement and build program audiences, networks and agencies can now quantify how much of the discussion happens outside of the live airing window for more than 650 English and Spanish language programs.