Nielsen Revamping Audience Measurement Techniques for Multiplatform Era

Responding to the recent explosive growth of multiplatform, time-shifted and interactive TV, Nielsen Media Research has unveiled an initiative under which it will aim to provide "integrated, all-electronic ratings for television, regardless of the platform on which it is viewed." The initiative, dubbed "Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement" (A2M2), will see the company developing and deploying technology for measuring TV viewing on the Internet and on mobiles, iPods and other devices. Key components of the initiative, according to Nielsen, include:

• A continued focus on providing accurate measurement of in-home TV viewing through its Active/Passive metering technology.
• Measurement of viewing of online streaming video, as well as the addition of Internet measurement in its People Meter samples.
• The addition of measurement of out-of-home viewing in its People Meter samples.
• The introduction of electronic measurement in all local markets by 2011.
• The development of new meters to measure video viewed on portable devices.
• The development of new research methodologies for measuring viewer "engagement" in TV programming.

Nielsen says that it is working with its sister company, NetRatings (which provides the Nielsen//NetRatings service), to introduce a number of services designed to measure viewing of broadband video content:

• Nielsen//NetRatings will integrate data from its SiteCensus service--which uses proprietary "ping back" technology to provide "accurate and granular" measurement of what is delivered online--with demographic data from its representative metered panels of Internet users. Local broadcast stations and cable operators will be able to take advantage of Nielsen//NetRatings' SiteCensus Market Intelligence service, which offers syndicated Internet audience measurement data.
• Nielsen will add Internet TV measurement to its People Meter samples next year, creating a single panel to measure the relationship between TV viewing, Web site usage and streaming video consumption. This summer, it will install and test software meters on the PC's and laptops of People Meter panelists exiting its panels, with the goal of fully deploying them during the 2007-8 broadcast season. It will use the testing to identify the potential impact of Internet measurement on panel-quality metrics.
• As a "springboard" to the introduction of this single-sample Internet-and-TV panel, beginning this summer, Nielsen and Nielsen//NetRatings will offer "fused" data, combining the viewing results from matching respondents in their TV and Internet panels. This is intended to make it possible to report the relationship between TV and Internet consumption, and to provide combined reporting of viewership of broadcast and cable networks and usage of their Web sites. Nielsen says that this fused data will allow agencies and advertisers to optimize their combined TV/Internet campaigns.

In an effort to measure viewing of traditional television outside the home, Nielsen is developing and testing two new personal meters, called "Go Meters," which it expects to introduce into its National and Local People Meter panels by the end of 2008 (it says that it will eventually add out-of-home viewing into its national and local television currencies). It will conduct a preliminary external test of the "Go Meters," starting this fall, and continuing until the beginning of next year. The new meters capture out-of-home viewing by collecting audio signatures: one device places metering technologies in mobile phones, while the other resembles an MP3 player, Nielsen says.

Nielsen says that, in response to the increase in the number of linear Channels available to consumers and to the growing availability of VOD and DVR's, it is also attempting to provide improved electronic measurement to local markets through a number of initiatives:

• It will expand its Local People Meter (LPM) service, which currently covers the 10 largest local TV markets, into the next 15 largest markets. Once this expansion is complete, local samples representing nearly half of the US population will be measured by LPM's.
• In existing Set-Meter markets (from the 26th-largest through the 60th-largest), it will introduce the A/P 3.0, a variation of the Active/Passive meter that will not need to be wired directly into a TV set. Information on who is watching a program will be collected through the same People Meter technology used in National and Local People Meters, which will be integrated into the A/P 3.0's design.
• Depending on test results, it plans to mail battery-powered meters to sample homes in markets that are currently Diary-only (i.e. the 61st-largest to the 125th-largest markets), initially supplementing them with simple viewing logs. The meters will be placed near TV sets to capture all programming on the set. At the end of the survey period, participants will mail back the meters and the logs.
• It says that it will "aggressively pursue" a full electronic measurement plan for smaller markets, currently served only by the paper Diary. It hopes to achieve this by 2011.
• It says that it will work on a parallel track to develop and test passive persons measurement, including wearable personal tags that let meters know when viewers are in direct line-of-sight of their TV sets. If they prove successful in tests, these tags may eventually replace button-pushing in People Meter homes.

Nielsen also says that it is "building the foundation to measure television content that is migrating to new portable media platforms--including cell phones, iPod, portable game players and handheld computers--in ways that clients can evaluate and monetize." Among other things, it is developing "Solo Meters" that can be used with any media system. For platforms that use a Bluetooth connection, it is developing a "very small" wireless meter that will passively listen to communication between mated devices. For wired systems, it is building a small, "in-line" meter that will be physically inserted between the device and its earphones. It says that both solutions will be "device-neutral" and that they will identify viewing by collecting audio signatures. Work on the solutions begins this summer, and Nielsen says that functional prototypes should be available within six to 12 months, so that testing can begin by the latter part of next year. It is also planning to set up a 400-person panel of iPod users by the end of 2006.

In order to measure engagement in television, Nielsen says it is conducting a detailed test to evaluate the strength of intrinsic and extrinsic measurements. A pilot program, which will help lay the groundwork for possible engagement metrics, is being undertaken in consultation with a 20-member client committee representing broadcast and cable networks, syndicators and agencies. National and Local People Meter households that are leaving the panel will be asked to maintain their meters for an additional six weeks, during which they will participate in phone surveys designed to measure commercial recall and qualitative engagement factors for the programs they watch. Nielsen says that the test will evaluate the strength of behavioral measures in predicting recall of commercials. It plans to publish the results of the survey in the fall, at which time it will decide whether additional research needs to be conducted or a specific engagement product can be launched.

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