• by Wayne Friedman , July 19, 2013

ABC Owned Television Stations have joined NBC TV stations in backing Nielsen live program-plus-same-day time-shifted viewing data.

ABC states the live-plus-same-day data is the closest to the viewing measure, the national TV C3 ratings -- commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing, which is “currency,” the virtual industry standard for national TV-buying advertisers.

Many big TV media agency groups still back live-only program TV ratings -- measures that don’t include any time-shifted data. Nielsen does not offer local commercial TV ratings. TV advertisers believe commercial ratings are more representative of how their commercials perform.

“As television viewing changes and viewers watch not only live, but also on a near-live basis and on many different types of devices, it’s critical that measurement completely and accurately capture that tuning for our clients,” said Rebecca Campbell, president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group.

She adds: “Live-plus-same-day is the metric most consistent with the national C3 model. We also believe our advertisers gain real and significant value beyond same-day viewing.”  

The TVB, the TV station advertising group, says live program-plus-same-day time-shifted ratings are just 5% above the national C3 rating. By contrast, live-only program viewing data was 16% below C3 for the 2012-13 season.

"Watching TV" photo from Shutterstock.

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