Nielsen to gauge TV viewing on Web, mobile

NEW YORK - In a move with far-reaching implications for commercial television, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday it plans to integrate TV with Internet ratings and to measure viewership for such portable devices as cell phones and iPods.

Nielsen also set a firm date of 2011 for the end of paper diaries still used for collecting local ratings data in the smallest markets during "sweeps."

The scope of Wednesday's announcement stunned many in the media industry, who had for years told Nielsen that it moved too slowly in reacting to changes in the TV business.

It also came months after Nielsen opted not to go ahead with a joint venture involving radio ratings service Arbitron and its Portable People Meter technology.

While many in the industry wanted to make sure Nielsen could deliver on its new promises, the company was universally praised for its action.

"It's a very bold statement of intent," said Richard Fielding, vice president and research director at Chicago-based Starcom.

Nielsen's multifaceted approach will begin to answer many of the questions swirling around the industry as commercial television is being virtually reinvented around the digital revolution in video.

One of the most intriguing elements of Nielsen's plan is the integration of TV and online measurement, by tracking video programming delivered on the Web through its Nielsen/NetRatings unit, and adding the Internet to its own national People Meter sample to give the industry what could be its first comprehensive look at viewing on TV and broadband.

Nielsen also is developing meters that track viewing on portable devices, and will by year's end have a 400-member iPod user panel in place. That, along with the television and Internet measurements, could provide a revolutionary look at the impact of iPod downloads or streaming video on overall television viewing. It's the type of data that is now just speculation.

"For the first time, we will know who's being exposed (to the media) and to what extent they are being exposed," ESPN executive Artie Bulgrin said. "Does the download make it from the computer to the mobile device, and when does it make it, is that person consuming and watching it and for how long?"

That is a key issue because the data currently available is transactional — showing the number of downloads but not how they were viewed.

"What marketers really want is some sort of single-source measurement, to find out what a day in the life of a media consumer is: What they're watching on cell phones, what they are watching on iPods, what they are watching on linear TV and when they are watching," said Brad Adgate, a research executive at New York-based ad buyer Horizon Media.

Nielsen will expand its Local People Meters to the top 25 markets and by 2011 will phase out the paper diaries with several types of electronic devices. One technology being explored is a wearable tag that would be able to tell when the viewer is near the TV.

"Television is becoming a more personal medium, and television advertising is bought and sold on a personal basis," said Paul Donato, a research officer at Nielsen. He said Nielsen has spent the past year working with clients to determine their needs, and that Wednesday's plan was the result of those discussions.

Nielsen also made happier those who had been concerned about the lack of out-of-home viewing in its sample. While Nielsen this year had said that it would count some college student viewing, Wednesday's proposal goes even further, adding mobile viewing by technology that captures programs' audio signatures, one inside a cell phone and the other in an MP3-size device.

Moreover, Nielsen threw its hat into the ring of the media industry's latest hot topic, measuring viewers' engagement with programs and advertising.

While Nielsen received generally positive reviews for its proposal on first blush, many in the industry want to see how it is implemented before gushing with admiration. Starcom's Fielding said Nielsen had been criticized for dragging its heels as the industry has been asking for solutions to these challenges.

"I think it's Nielsen finally reacting to the reality that it's not television per se, it's video," Fielding said. "Nielsen was also feeling increasingly threatened in its core business, a panel-based smaller sample."

Nielsen is owned by Valcon Acquisition B.V., parent company of The Hollywood Reporter.

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