• by Wayne Friedman , December 8, 2005

Turner Broadcasting--as a supplement to Nielsen's new ratings, which will account for digital video recorders--will be offering a detailed stream of "blended" DVR ratings data to the press starting next year.

Starting on December 29, Nielsen Media Research will provide two data streams daily: "live viewing" and "live viewing plus same day viewing of recorded programs." Nielsen will also be offering a general, less detailed stream of "live plus seven day viewing of recorded programs," but this will be available two weeks after the end of the seven-day period.

The delay is troubling to networks that currently can get TV ratings of programs the next day. Because there will always be a lag, there is a need for a quicker, clearer ratings picture--especially after the end of a particular quarter.

"At the end of 12 weeks, you'd only have 10 weeks of data," said Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer for Turner Broadcasting Co. That's important to cable networks that used quarterly ratings data as a basis for advertising rates.

So Nielsen will offer a "blended" number--looking at "live plus same day" and "live plus seven day" data. But it won't be very detailed, and will only offer ratings per network--not on a program-by-program basis. The numbers will be on a season-to-date rating basis. Wakshlag said Nielsen's systems are not yet capable of delivering detailed program viewing data. A Nielsen spokesman did not return phone calls by press time.

But Wakshlag said that Turner will be able to offer complete, detailed "blended" data. Turner and other TV sellers have a natural interest in doing this. Live viewing plus seven day of recorded viewing' data is going to give networks the biggest numbers to sell. "Every exposure has got some value," says Wakshlag. He won't go into detail concerning how Turner will strategize ad sales around the new research data, saying only: "We decided not to discuss it."

With DVRs in only 6 percent of U.S. TV households, Wakshlag says he expects no significant changes in ratings for some time to come--perhaps for at least a year--"even if DVR distribution goes to 15 percent," he says. "If 20 percent of those 15 percent time shift the same program, that's still only a 3 percent change. That's still within the standard error."

Nielsen will be adding some 200 DVR homes every month to its 10,000 national people meter sample until it gets to 6 percent of its sample.