Old, New Methods Vital To TV Measurement

No matter how sophisticated technological tools to measure television audience data get, there will always be a place for more human input, Rentrak Corp.’s Cathy Hetzel said Tuesday.

“I think there are certain questions you have to answer with a panel,” Hetzel said, adding that integrating traditional focus group-collected input with information gathered by newer means, like set-top boxes, is ideal.

Hetzel’s comments were part of a panel discussion at the NATPE convention in Miami on how technology is changing means for measuring TV audiences, and how those changes could influence both content and advertisers.

Panelists touted the benefits of set-top boxes in gathering huge quantities of data, but also stressed that they have their limits as well.

“You’re going to have to have set-top boxes as a basic building block to make any of the measurements systems of the future functionable,” said Google’s Mark Piesanen, adding that “you will also need some sort of overlay” because boxes don’t measure crucial data, like how many people live in a home or who is watching a particular TV program.

As both measurement tools — and the industry itself — continues to morph, breeding questions like whether measuring TV audiences should include cross-platform viewers, panelists agreed that using the best that a variety of tools has to offer is the desired means for giving advertisers they information they want.

“We see a world where these tools and techniques are knitted together,” said Nielsen’s Cheryl Idell, the panel moderator.

“As long as you have the capacity to measure all of it, collect it, process it and present it in a format that your clients can use, it will only get better,” she said.