Mark Loughney, vice president of sales and strategy research for ABC, started in academia -- but customer satisfaction research interested him so much that he decided to transition into the business side of market research. That move resulted in a stellar career that has included stints at MTV Networks, TNN, Nielsen and ABC. In my interview with him, Mark talks about measurement, cross-platform, industry trends, the DIsney Media & Ad Lab, and future trends in the industry.

What does it say about television - or, more to the point, the television audience - when one of the most buzzed-about programs of the year is an episode of a dramatic series filled with unspeakable physical and emotional violence?

Bank clerk T.S. Eliot wrote poetry at night. There are many of us who, like Eliot, "bleed between two lives": left brain by day, right brain by night. But then there are those fortunate people at Ovation who are surrounded by art as part of their corporate experience every day.

I think we can all agree that Twitter is a remarkable platform that's having a significant impact on television. I'm not sure we can actually agree what that impact is, though.