Marketers could be girding for a price fight with media companies as a result of Nielsen Media Research's plans to begin measuring viewers who record TV programs. Ad rates for TV shows have
traditionally been based on ratings from Nielsen that measure the number of people who watch a TV show when it is broadcast. But the widespread adoption of digital video recorders, or DVRs, and
video-on-demand services--along with the delivery of shows via computer, cell phone or iPod--is rendering Nielsen's tracking method obsolete. Now, Nielsen says it will also measure DVR viewers. The
new ratings data sets up a face-off between TV companies and advertisers over how to price commercials. "All the various players are jockeying to decide what data they will use as the base of their
business," says Sara Erichson, Nielsen's general manager of national services. "Billions of dollars could change hands differently based on the answer."
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at WSJ (paid subscription required) »
