Nielsen 'Plans Overhaul' of Meter Technology

Nielsen has written to inform clients it is developing a range of new audience meters and digital tracking codes, for possible deployment in or after 2004.

According to www.mediapost.com , the ratings giant's GTAM or Global Television Audience Metering initiative involves no fewer than four new audience metering technologies, designed to move the company's worldwide measurement capabilities forward in the age of mobile and Internet viewing whilst reaffirming its focus on in-home viewing.

The four are:

• the 'GTAM meter' - the primary audience measurement device, smaller and less 'invasive' than the current standard A/P (Active/Passive) meters. This will also use a combination of active and passive measurement but will not require a physical connection to TVs or other devices.
• the smaller 'GTAM Lite Meter' for measuring TV audience in households with fewer electronic devices
• smaller still, the Code Reader, which will pick up embedded digital codes from TV and video programming, and
• the 'Scrolling Text People Meter', a replacement for the current - and fairly new - people meter technology. Instead of flashing lights reminding viewers to push buttons to indicate they are actively watching programs, these will use an LED screen to feed instructions to panel members.

All the new devices will be compatible with a 'bullet-proof' digital watermarking technology, resistant to current and likely compression technologies and central to Nielsen's future cross-platform measurement including wireless and online viewing.

Nielsen is likely to test the devices during 2013 and consider their introduction in 2014. Web site: www.nielsen.com .