• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 22, 2005

Nielsen Media Research Wednesday confirmed that an unspecified number of "programmers" are interested in using its new shifted average audience ratings (SAA), which would create a gross rating based on multiple exposures of TV programming viewed via time-shifted devices such as digital video recorders or video-on-demand. "There has been interest among the programmers in looking at that data first," said Pat McDonough, senior vice president-planning and analysis at Nielsen during a conference call the company held with journalists to brief them on plans for the transition to time-shifted ratings beginning next week. McDonough did not say whether any ad agencies or advertisers have expressed an interest in the new metric, which is similar in concept to the gross average audience ratings, or GAAs Nielsen developed for the TV syndication business years ago, in which multiple exposures of a syndicated TV show airing in the same market are combined into a gross rating.

She said the SAAs are a new metric and currently are more of an analytical tool, and that Nielsen does not have any imminent plans to integrate them into the official time-shifted ratings streams it will begin reporting next week.

Nielsen executives said it was still unclear how various clients would utilize the multiple forms of ratings data, which will include "live," "live" plus same day of playback from digital video recorders, and "live" plus seven days of playback, but they implied it would contribute to some lively negotiations between buyers and sellers of TV advertising time.

"It is difficult to anticipate how the industry will adjust once there is three streams of data available for negotiations," conceded Nielsen spokesperson Karen Gyimesi, adding that it was likely that the media would be "bombarded" by a torrent of conflicting data and ratings spin from various programmers seeking to position the results in the most positive light.

In addition to the three new streams of ratings data, networks routinely release preliminary data early each day based on results from metered markets. Nielsen will also issue hybrid season-to-date ratings to the press based on a fusion of "live" plus seven days and "live" only data for the most immediate two weeks.

Gyimesi said Nielsen did not expect members of the press to be confused by the multiple streams of data Nielsen would begin reporting, but there already appears to be some confusion based on reports emanating from Wednesday's press briefing. At least one major trade publication reported that the ratings Nielsen will begin reporting next week would "include data on ad-skipping." While clients subscribing to Nielsen's new, pricey minute-by-minute data will be able to analyze the impact of time-shifted viewing on ratings for average minutes including both programming and advertising comment, they will not be able to see how specific commercials are skipped. To date, Nielsen has announced only two clients for the minute-by-minute data: Starcom MediaVest Group and The Weather Channel.