I am not really sure what to make of this article in Media Post, so here's a direct quote:
"An analysis of the so-called "commercial ratings" obtained by MediaDailyNews reveals that virtually no one stops to view a commercial when watching a program in time-shifted mode. For top network programs, the data reveals that "commercial ratings" are practically the same when shows are viewed "live" as when they are viewed via DVRs ("live plus seven day"), meaning that people are making good use of the fast-forward functions during the ads. While the [Nielsen's] data is not actually ratings for specific commericals, it provides the average audience for each minute--including minutes with ads in them--and is being used as a proxy for commerical ratings."
Now, the article, Ad Jab and Lost Remote all say this means nobody (well, less than 1 percent) is watching commercials in the DVR mode, but I am having a hard time following the logic. Could it be that no one is watching not only the commercials but also the shows that they have sitting on their hard drives? I guess the study itself has a more detailed breakdown, but the Media Post's piece raises more questions than it answers. Or maybe I haven't woken up yet; I'm leaving the comments open in case you have an explanation.
I read an article on this like a month ago and I believe it all means that they use the average rating of the show as the shows rating but when a viewer watches a show live the ratings change similarly when they are watching what they are DVRing live, since they can't fast forward because they have a 2 second delay added onto the regular 7 second delay of "live broadcasts."
ReplyDeleteMy real question is how do the ratings systems measure the set top boxes when a person turns off the TV but leaves the cable box on. Especially Tivo. I leave my set top box on all day because it takes a good 20 seconds to load but I'm not even in my home. I just turn off my TV to save the quality of the picture.