Nielsen Fast-Forwards PVR Ratings Plans, Unveils 'TiVo' Ratings Service

[kechara420]

just another article on the subject ...


http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=237104


Nielsen Fast-Forwards PVR Ratings Plans, Unveils 'TiVo' Ratings Service
By Joe Mandese
Editor, MediaPost
Thursday, February 05, 2004

Acknowledging the profound impact digital video recorders are having on TV viewing patterns, Nielsen Media Research Wednesday unveiled plans for a new standalone ratings service based exclusively on the DVR activity of TiVo households. But the new monthly research service will do more than just report how TV programs are viewed in TiVo households. It will also be a laboratory for marketers, agencies and the media to learn how viewing behavior is altered by DVR capabilities such as pausing and replaying live TV, as well as playing back and skipping through recorded programming. While the service will have no immediate impact on Nielsen's primary TV ratings service, executives expect information from the TiVo panel may help the industry determine new "editing" rules for crediting viewing to programs and advertising in a DVR environment.

"When we talk to our clients, the first question they ask is, 'When will see some data on time-shifting?' This will be the first wave of data showing what happens when people record and play back programming using a TiVo," says Jack Loftus, executive vice president-communications at Nielsen. He says Nielsen has not resolved how it might apply that knowledge to its primary TV ratings reports. Until that is resolved, Nielsen will continue to omit DVR households from its regular TV ratings samples. Nielsen estimates DVRs, including non-TiVo branded services, currently represent about 3 percent of TV households.

The new service, a joint-venture with TiVo that will be marketed by Nielsen, follows an extensive research and development deal between the two companies that led to a breakthrough in TV metering software that enables Nielsen to integrate TiVo viewing data into Nielsen's ratings system. Initial versions of the new TiVo reports will measure only programming, but Loftus says Nielsen eventually plans to report on viewing, recording, playback, replaying, pausing and skipping of TV commercials in that panel. While DVRs are assumed to be a net negative for TV advertising, some observers believe they may also contribute to incremental reach and frequency of TV ads from viewers who record, pause and replay ad messages, as many DVR homes did during and following the Super Bowl.

The DVR data could be critical for a new generation of media planning approaches that focuses not just the reach and frequency of advertising exposures, but also on their context: when, where, how, and perhaps most importantly, in what mindset consumers are exposed to ads.

"The first step right now will be program content. We hope to get to commercial avoidance data later," says Loftus. "the point is to be able to process this information and report it to the industry in such a way that they can understand what's going on in DVR households."

Nielsen did not set a specific launch date for the new service, and is still determining exactly how many panelists are needed. The panel will be recruited using a special "opt-in" recruitment process among standalone TiVo subscribers. Nielsen executives continue to talk to other DVR developers, especially cable TV operators, as part of a broader goal of developing a massive data processing system built around an array of digital TV set-top devices, all of which generate granular, "clickstream"-like data on TV viewing patterns. Madison Avenue, via an Advertising Research Foundation initiative, has been rebuffed in its attempts to convince cable operators to participate in such a system.

Nielsen has designs on becoming the central data processor for all forms of data on TV viewing patterns, whether it is from its own organic TV ratings samples, or through other new and emerging technologies.

[LadyCrais]

Thanks Kechara. It was a headline in my Variety news, but they usually aren't very in depth even if you get the package.

So, am I understanding this right??

"opt-in" recruitment process among standalone TiVo subscribers

Does that mean I am still excluded because I'm a DirecTV Tivo??

[CosmicTheorist]

He says Nielsen has not resolved how it might apply that knowledge to its primary TV ratings reports. Until that is resolved, Nielsen will continue to omit DVR households from its regular TV ratings samples. Nielsen estimates DVRs, including non-TiVo branded services, currently represent about 3 percent of TV households.
I thought Nielsen INCLUDED households with VCRs; VCRs allow people to record shows and watch them later. How is VCR time shifting different from DVR time shifting? Or does Nielsen also OMIT shows RECORDED on tape from its ratings reports?

I also thought Nielsen INCLUDED satellite subscribers in its samples. Does Nielsen include satellite subscribers? If so, then LadyCrais should go ahead and OPT IN for that Tivo sample. In fact all Scapers with Tivo should OPT IN, and MOST important of ALL, be sure you WATCH and and maybe even REWATCH all of the commercials shown during the Farscape episodes you record. Then mosey on over to the advertisers' forum and see if the contact info for those advertisers has been posted. Pick one and let them know you watched their ad on Tivo while playing back Farscape. Let's give them something to talk about.

The DVR data could be critical for a new generation of media planning approaches that focuses not just the reach and frequency of advertising exposures, but also on their context: when, where, how, and perhaps most importantly, in what mindset consumers are exposed to ads.
Dear Madison Avenue, I was in a Farscape state of mind!

:smokin:

[Nicola]

Originally posted by CosmicTheorist

Dear Madison Avenue, I was in a Farscape state of mind!


That is a great quote! You should submit it to the 'grey matter' thread. Just excellent.

[vhsiv]

He says Nielsen has not resolved how it might apply that knowledge to its primary TV ratings reports. Until that is resolved, Nielsen will continue to omit DVR households from its regular TV ratings samples. Nielsen estimates DVRs, including non-TiVo branded services, currently represent about 3 percent of TV households. What really chafes my arse is that Nielsen makes estimates like the one above: There are approximately 1 Million+ units out there being used by ACTUAL CONSUMERS and television watchers - Tivo, SonicBlue and whatever else exists, people with television cards in their PCs, whatever - while there are ONLY 5,000+ households in Nielsen's sample.

So while Nielsen says "DVRs, including non-TiVo branded services, currently represent about 3 percent (0.3) of TV households", the opposite is actually true: Nielsen's 'native' sample represents 0.005, one 200th of the sample that Tivo provides, yet Nielsen's got the ratings market cornered.

Nielsen should be begging Tivo for access to THEIR audience information, not - as it appears - the other way around.

[Digger]

I thought Nielsen INCLUDED households with VCRs; VCRs allow people to record shows and watch them later. How is VCR time shifting different from DVR time shifting? Or does Nielsen also OMIT shows RECORDED on tape from its ratings reports? As for people who tape shows, I may be mistaken, but I think that Nielson requires the people who have their boxes to press a button or something every 15-30 minutes to verify that they are actually there watching the show. So in essence you are correct. If Nielson families go out and tape something then it probably isn't recorded by Nielson because they didn't verify they were there watching it.

[LadyCrais]

Originally posted by CosmicTheorist
I also thought Nielsen INCLUDED satellite subscribers in its samples. Does Nielsen include satellite subscribers? If so, then LadyCrais should go ahead and OPT IN for that Tivo sample.

It may be a technical issue CT. My Tivo is part of my DirecTV receiver. DirecTivo I think it was called. One machine. It may not have the same reporting capabilities built in that a stand alone Tivo has and have nothing to do with my being a satellite subscriber.

[vhsiv]

Originally posted by Digger
I think that Nielson requires the people who have their boxes to press a button or something every 15-30 minutes to verify that they are actually there watching the show. Wha'! If Nielsen is requiring their sample population to act like carnival monkeys or lab rats, I can understand why they have trouble finding people to participate in their samples.

Press a button every thirty minutes!

The Eyes of Heisenberg are definitely corrupting the sample, if that's the case - Tivo should definitely go ahead and bury them, if, in fact, that's the situation.

Does Nielsen pay their participants to put up with that kind of nonsense? And if so, how could you trust anyone to keep a detailed diary, after you've belittled them with your inadequate technology?

[Digger]

I know, it sounds pretty stupid, but I could swear that I read in a thread here something to the effect that they couldn't just leave the tv on and walk away and expect that things will be recorded. Of course I could be wrong. I'm wrong a lot.

Hopefully MediaSavant will see this and either verify it or correct my error.

[vhsiv]

Press a button every thirty minutes! No bathroom breaks for YOU!
(And no snacks, either!)

[vhsiv]

Hey Digger - it sounds like we've discovered a way to cut the nation's prison population - just make all those people part of the Nielsen sample - they'll effectively be under 'house-arrest'.

[ComfyChair]

You have to press the button every 70 minutes to show that you haven't wandered off or fallen asleep. If you are watching TV, it takes very little effort to push a button on a remote control. For channel surfers, the irritating thing is that you have to press the button 60 seconds after changing the channel (it at least gives you that long to settle on something).

Nielsen tracks when the VCR is on and recording, but not what you are recording.

Hope that helps.

[MediaSavant]

Originally posted by ComfyChair
Nielsen tracks when the VCR is on and recording, but not what you are recording.

Addendum: they do track what you are recording. VCR recording has been part of the Nielsen ratings for years. For instance, about 20% of a daytime soap opera's rating is due to people taping it.

They even have a column for "VCR contribution" in the network pocketpieces. (that's a printed network ratings report that gets distributed to customers)

If you could get your hands on a pocketpiece you could calculate the VCR contribution of any network show. I always do out of curiosity.

Also, to settle some other confusions, I can confirm that Nielsen includes satellite households. Their term for it is ADS (Alternate delivery systems). They even can reported as a seperate rating break. (e.g. finding out what a rating is in an ADS home versus a cable home vs. a non-cable home).

The DVR omission is a serious problem though, that will expand as penetration grows for the technology.

Regarding the requirement to punch buttons, that's how it is.

And it is a preferable method than a diary (which requires you to remember and doesn't allow for minute-by minute ratings) or from allowing unattended televisions to be counted as "viewing". It's how we get demographics overnight. Tivo, btw, cannot track the demographics of who's watching. It's household-based.

If no one has punched in, but the TV is on after a certain interval, the household's viewing is taken out of tab and treated as its not even in the panel for that period of time.

I believe if you forget, the machine prompts you with an "are you there?" type signal. If you are a habitually forgetful person, you get a call from the Nielsen service rep who will ask you what's going on.

I guess when we can imbed computer chips in people's brains to monitor them--assuming they will agree to that--we will have the ultimate ratings methodology.

Moderately good news is that Nielsen's sample expansion began last October. We can no longer say it's only 5000 households. It's a bit higher now. Small comfort, I know.

Nielsen has also gotten the local people meter up and running in two markets and will be in three soon. What's good about that is that even the peoplemeter is a better methodology than the diary. It's good for cable shows, in particular. When the markets have switched from diary, cable ratings go up. People tend to forget to write their cable viewing more than they forget their broadcast viewing.

[guyricardo]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by CosmicTheorist
I also thought Nielsen INCLUDED satellite subscribers in its samples. Does Nielsen include satellite subscribers? If so, then LadyCrais should go ahead and OPT IN for that Tivo sample.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It may be a technical issue CT. My Tivo is part of my DirecTV receiver. DirecTivo I think it was called. One machine. It may not have the same reporting capabilities built in that a stand alone Tivo has and have nothing to do with my being a satellite subscriber.

I think the technical issue with the integrated units may be the fact they have dual tuners, as opposed to the single tuner in the standalone. I'm pretty sure that the reporting capabilities are the same. If they don't know what to do with the timeshifting of a standalone user, I can't imagine they have any clue how to deal with a dual tuner unit.

My favorite uses of the dual tuner: Watch 'live' TV while recording another channel. Record two shows while watching a previously recorded show. I put 'live' in quotes because, on the few occasions I watch anything 'live', I almost always start watching late, so that I can FF thru the commercials and not get to the end of the show before it's over (~15 mins/hr).

Another possibilty is due to the fact the DirecTV administers the TiVo subscription for the integrated units as part of the DirecTV account. Standalone owners (even those with DirecTV) subscribe directly with TiVo, so maybe it's also a legal issue.

[Digger]

Regarding the requirement to punch buttons, that's how it is. Aha! I was right! All that booze during the Super Bowl did NOT pickle my brains!
it sounds like we've discovered a way to cut the nation's prison population - just make all those people part of the Nielsen sample - they'll effectively be under 'house-arrest'. Yeah, but can you imagine the type of shows that would start to dominate the ratings?

How to Fleece a Naive and Lonely Woman: Each week our contestants meet/write/talk to unsuspecting lonely women. They promise these women that they're innocent and just desperate for someone to love. Running totals are kept of the money inmates get from these women over a 13 week period. Whoever ends up with the most wins. Special bonus points go to any "Lifer" who can get one of the women to marry them over the phone.

Extreme Cell Makeover Join our inmates as they make radical changes to the decor of their 6x8 cells, installing (at the taxpayers expense, of course) such luxury items as TIVO, Sattelite TV, Microwaves, and Googlaphonic Stereo Systems with Moonrock Needles.

Bull Queer Eye for the Dead Guy Join our Death Row inmates as they are made over just in time for the big day!

[LadyCrais]

Originally posted by guyricardo
My favorite uses of the dual tuner: Watch 'live' TV while recording another channel. Record two shows while watching a previously recorded show. I put 'live' in quotes because, on the few occasions I watch anything 'live', I almost always start watching late, so that I can FF thru the commercials and not get to the end of the show before it's over (~15 mins/hr).


Thanks for being so verbose in explaining what I meant, Guy (the lovely, nice person who helped me get my Tivo! ;) )

The only thing I'm pointing out here is that the part I've bolded, watch live while recording, is commonly done with VCRs too. I think MS has said that they both count in a Nielsen household, but we'd need her to check in to verify that.

Come to think of it, MediaSavant has complained about the Tivo numbers being based on what's recorded instead of what's watched. MS, you there? Isn't that also a problem with those who tape? The only difference is if you've let your Tivo get out of control and tape anything it wants without making an active decision. (I wonder what percentage actually do that. I, myself, refuse to give it that control except in very rare, highly defined exceptions). But otherwise, if you specifically tell it to record something, the intention is identical, and neither is confirmed as having been viewed. Or do the VCR Nielsen people get to punch buttons while they're viewing the tape too?

[guyricardo]

Hi LC. Hope your enjoying your as much as I enjoy mine. :)

Have to admit I'm curious about how they account for the VCR viewing vs recording issue. VCR's don't seem to jive much with the push button requirement. DVR's will at least tell them if something that has been recorded actually was watched.

Now that I think about it, I wonder what they'll do with shows that get rewatched over and over on your DVR. Does it goet counted just once, each time you watch, or do they just throw it out with the bathwater.

[MediaSavant]

Originally posted by LadyCrais
Come to think of it, MediaSavant has complained about the Tivo numbers being based on what's recorded instead of what's watched. MS, you there? Isn't that also a problem with those who tape? The only difference is if you've let your Tivo get out of control and tape anything it wants without making an active decision. (I wonder what percentage actually do that. I, myself, refuse to give it that control except in very rare, highly defined exceptions). But otherwise, if you specifically tell it to record something, the intention is identical, and neither is confirmed as having been viewed. Or do the VCR Nielsen people get to punch buttons while they're viewing the tape too?

When something difficult comes along like VCR's did, they often have to agree with some "reporting rules" established after many arguments between the parties involved. Often those reporting rules are a compromise. The reporting rules for the VCR are such a compromise and they are different from the live viewing rules. Enough said.

I'm more concerned about counting recording vs. viewing with the Tivo because:

1. There's no mechanical reason--as there was a VCR--that makes it difficult to identify what people are playing back. Tivo proved that in their Super Bowl report.
2. People record a whole lot more that they never watch with a Tivo. As you point out, the Tivo is always recording. Always. If I turned mine on now, it is "live recording" the channel it's on and I could rewind it.

The discussion over what rules to apply will be lengthy. For instance, we exist in an "overnights" ratings mode. If people haven't watched yet what they recorded last night, there will have to be a time lag to wait for them to watch it. How long will they have to settle on what that is and the ratings are declared *final*.

Another instance...if you watch it twice, will you be counted twice?

The main reason for this research now is to observe people's behavior in these matters--what's the time lag between 'record and view'? Do people watch twice? What's the percentage of shows viewed vs. recorded?--before making the reporting rules.

My favorite uses of the dual tuner: Watch 'live' TV while recording another channel. Record two shows while watching a previously recorded show. I put 'live' in quotes because, on the few occasions I watch anything 'live', I almost always start watching late, so that I can FF thru the commercials and not get to the end of the show before it's over

FYI, this now has a name--provided by Tivo--it's "near live" recording.