• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 2, 2009

Nielsen Tuesday announced a decision and a plan to formally integrate viewing of online video content into its national TV ratings, effectively making the Internet a new television platform as far as the TV advertising marketplace is concerned. Calling the concept "extended screen" measurement, the move is akin to the expansion of the TV universe that occurred when Nielsen first began measuring other TV viewing platforms such as cable TV in the 1980s, or national syndicated television, unwired TV networks and Hispanic television as part of a single national TV ratings sample, and the reports that emanate from it.

Nielsen described the plan as a "single-source measurement" for both TV and online video content, and said it would unfold in two phases. The first, which was detailed in communiqués sent to clients Monday, is the rollout of Nielsen's so-called "Internet meters" into every households participating in its national people meter ratings panel. The second phase, which details of which will be announced in the next few weeks, will be methods Nielsen will use to technically integrate the viewing of the two disparate platforms and measurement systems into a single rating that can be used by advertisers, agencies and television networks as the currency for advertising deals.

Importantly, the new ratings are expected to follow the same editing rules as Nielsen's current C3 ratings standard for the national TV advertising marketplace, meaning the viewing of online video content would include time-shifted viewing, as well as live streaming, though Nielsen President-Media Client Services North America Sara Erichson said that plan could change based on client feedback.

The rollout of Internet meters across Nielsen's entire national people meter sample will happen much sooner than Nielsen has original been planning for ever since it began discussing the possibility of integrating TV with online viewing measurement. Originally, Nielsen has expected the deployment of Internet meters to take all off 2010, but Erichson said it now is expected to be completed by August 2010, which conceivably means the new single-source ratings could be in place in time for the 2010-11 television season.

Nielsen had been maintaining a small subset of about 375 Internet meter households in its national people meter panel to see if there was any negative impact on their TV ratings quality, and Erichson said the findings of that research gave Nielsen the confidence to move ahead and accelerate the process of rolling out the Internet meters to its entire TV ratings panel. She said Nielsen would continue to monitor the effect the rollout has on the quality of TV ratings going forward.

The integration of the two types of data - traditional TV ratings and the Internet meter measurement - into a single-source rating is a little trickier she said, because there are technical differences in the way the two metering technologies measure, define and report "viewing." She said Nielsen researchers would finalize that plan and present it to clients in the next several weeks.

All of these steps, she said, are being taken at the behest of Nielsen clients, especially big TV networks who want to find a way of "monetizing" the distribution of their TV programs online in a way that is akin to the TV advertising marketplace. Effectively, creating the single-source ratings will extend the reach and audience impressions of their TV shows to include online viewing, much the way Nielsen's decisions to include time-shifting from digital video recorders, or viewing that occurs in "extended homes" such as college campuses and vacation houses, have extended the definition of the TV universe in recent years.

Erichson said the plan does not affect Nielsen Online's existing Internet panel, which will continue to operate as usual and will be available to clients who want to measure pure-play online usage and activity, but she said the decision would enable Nielsen to shut down another ancillary panel - its 900-household "convergence panel," which has simultaneously been measuring the usage of online and TV content in those households.