• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 16, 2005

Nielsen Media Research Tuesday unveiled the much-anticipated findings from a special project to measure viewing in so-called "extended home" locations - second homes, vacation homes and college residences - that are not currently measured as part of its official TV ratings service. The data, which were released during the opening day of a series of annual client meetings in Miami this week, indicate that there is, well, no place like home - at least not a TV viewer's primary one.

The data, which is still preliminary, and itself is part of a test to determine the feasibility and appropriateness of measuring such extended home viewing on an ongoing basis, was underwritten by TV companies such as Fox, Time Warner and Viacom, which are interested in boosting their ratings by including viewing that occurs outside Nielsen's traditional, primary household universe. What it found was that in some places cable benefits more than broadcast, in other places broadcast benefits more than cable, and that in all cases the viewing is very different from where people typically hang their hats.

The most significant finding was that college students living away from home watch a lot of TV in those locations including dorms, frat houses and off-campus housing. On average, college students watch 221 minute per day in these locations, which accounted for 21 percent of all their "home" viewing while they were away at college. There was also a significant increase in so-called "long-term visitor" viewing in their extended college homes, which mainly came from their college roommates who are not considered part of Nielsen's regular sample.

College students also tend to watch TV later than the general population with their usage peaking in late night - not prime time - especially among men. Most significantly, college students watch a disproportionately higher share of cable programming than the general population. Nearly two-thirds (60.1 percent) of college viewing is done to ad-supported cable networks, nearly twice the 34.1 percent that goes to broadcast networks and their affiliates.

That's likely because college students tend to watch much more sports related programming than the average viewer. And in a potentially troubling social finding, college age men also tend to watch much more cartoons and children's programming than the average American adult.

For the most part, the inclusion of college-based viewing had a relatively minor impact on total ratings for these viewers, but did at a tenth or two of a rating point to some of the selected TV programs Nielsen showed data for.

The patterns for viewers watching TV in second homes - usually vacation homes - were much different. During the period measured, Nielsen said second home viewing only contributed an average of 39 minutes per day among these viewers, ranging from 26 percent of their total viewing in September, to only 7 percent in December 2004. In contrast to college viewing, there was very little visitor viewing in second homes. There viewing peaked during traditional prime time, and 48.6 percent of their viewing was to broadcast networks and their affiliates with only 34.1 percent going to ad-supported cable networks.