Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Cable Networks Opt Out Of NIELSEN Commercial Ratings

(From Cynopsis)

NBC UNIVERSAL announced that its cable networks will
"opt out" of the initial data on commercial ratings provided by NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH, and will not be included in the initial information that will be provided starting in December.


Those networks include BRAVO, MSNBC, SCI FI CHANNEL and USA NETWORK.

And the NBC cable networks aren't alone -- also ditching the commercial ratings (at least for now) are MTV NETWORKS, ESPN, DISCOVERY NETWORKS, TBS/TNT, CARTOON NETWORK, COURT TV, CNN and CNN HEADLINE NEWS.

The reason given by these networks is errors in the methodology and Nielsen's inability to differentiate between the local and national cable commercial spots.

In a letter to Nielsen, JACK WAKSHLAG, Turner's Chief Research Officer, said they found errors in the reporting of commercial data and that they don't believe the service is ready to be released until the errors are corrected.

THE CABLE TELEVISION ADVERTISING BUREAU is also says now is not the time for its members to participate in this service because of the flawed data, but rather to work with Nielsen in correcting the issues.

The purpose of the data is to show how many viewers are watching the commercials, particularly when a program has been TIVO'd or DVR'd.

One camp -- largely those paying for their commercials to air -- suggest viewers fast forward past the ads.

The other camp -- those taking money for commercials -- says the research will show people will still watch the spots.

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