Nielsen Considers Adding Internet Measures To TV Ratings

In advance of its buyout of NetRatings, Nielsen is contemplating a plan to integrate online audience measurement with its TV household ratings system.

The plan would involve fusing data from its National and Local People Meter samples with Nielsen//NetRatings' Internet panels to report the relationship between television and Internet consumption. If agreed, this would require the installation of new meters and software into the existing TV ratings panel to enable Nielsen to simultaneously track online usage in those households.

The plan was announced as part of a client A2/M2 (Anytime/Anywhere) status report which says that results from a pilot study of the integrated 'convergence panel' shows that many respondents have refused to add Internet measurement because of worries about privacy.

Because of the uncertainty among its clients about the impact that adding Internet measurement could have on its core TV audience measurement, Nielsen is planning to conduct further research before making the decision. This could include a test of Internet measurement in a number of panel homes in the autumn, which the firm says might accelerate the development of a convergence panel.

'We will be able to report key metrics like in-tab rates and tuning without viewing, and compare the performance of these homes before and after Internet measurement was added,' Nielsen said in the update.

Nielsen is also looking at the possibility of building a new 'non-currency' panel of 1,000 homes by April 2008.

Nielsen is in the final stages of buying NetRatings ( www.mrweb.com/drno/news6738.htm ) and is online at www.nielsenmedia.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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