A few weeks ago I wrote about what I saw as the transition of the definition of
“television.” I started to think about this issue when Nielsen recently lowered its Total U.S. Universe estimate of Television households -- the second time in as many years. But
is “television” -- or even “television households,” for that matter -- really best defined using a hardware-based television set definition? And if so, shouldn't it
contain all hardware platforms on which one can receive television-based content?
Not surprisingly, others in the industry are also re-examining the concept of television and what it has
become in today’s several-screen media landscape. At the recent ARF 7.0 Insights conference in New York City, the definition of television was one leitmotif in the discussion of today’s
media research landscape. (The other was standardized cross-platform metrics, an obvious corollary to the definition of television and a subject for a future TV Board article).
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Many
prominent industry researchers attend the ARF, and their thoughts on the definition of television were varied and often conceptual. To Lyle Schwartz of GroupM, “TV is delivery of video
content,” while for Jeff Boehme of Kantar, “TV is any screen.” Bruce Goerlich of Rentrak said that “TV is episodic (content).” But for Michelle de Montigny,
MetrixLab , television is “a friend. It’s a character. It is not just a screen or a picture.”
Please click here to see a short video on all of the responses collected at the ARF 7.0 conference.
One basis of
general agreement was that the definition of television is no longer traditional. It is not the “TV set” hardware. To many, it is much more behavioral and/or content-driven. But if that is
so, how can we collect the totality of the television universe and use it to form a universe basis for measurement?
As Tom Xenos of MediaVest so aptly said, "What's television? That's a
good question. I know what it's not. It's not limited to a TV set anymore. It's not appointment viewing. It's no longer family time. The concept of a fall season premiere
is dying off like autumn leaves. And channel numbers only provide comfort to grandparents. But television is constantly changing, evolving, and redefining the viewing experience, and
that's the one thing that we can all count on."