• by Wayne Friedman , December 21, 2009

Catching up to other TV broadcasters, PBS has struck a deal with Nielsen for its full demographic information service -- data that has always been crucial to TV marketers.

Previously, PBS had a long-running arrangement with Nielsen that provided only viewership and household ratings data over the course of 12 weeks -- once a month. In the new deal, PBS will get full demographic ratings data 52 weeks a year through its NPower service.

Although PBS is a commercial-free public broadcasting service, over the last couple of years, it has increasingly put together sponsorship deals with major TV advertisers -- messaging that goes on before and after TV shows. PBS did not officially release demo data; TV research executives said there were unofficial ways of mining the data.

Andrew Russell, senior vice president of PBS Ventures, stated: "We continue to introduce new, innovative solutions to better meet our partners' needs. The new Nielsen ratings service will provide current and potential sponsors with a detailed picture of the diverse audiences our programs serve."

PBS says the new service debuted earlier this year with Ken Burns' "The National Parks: America's America's Best Idea." The documentary earned 5.5 million average viewers per episode and an overall household average audience rating of 3.5.

PBS shows, including "Antiques Roadshow," "Masterpiece Theater", "PBS NewsHour," "NOVA," "Nature" and "Frontline," as well as "Curious George," "Sid the Science Kid" and "Sesame Street," will now get weekly demographic rating information.