Because of the unique attributes of the RPD environment, considerable care is taken to correctly define STB activity as it pertains to media consumption. Let's take for example "tuning" vs "viewing" behavior. The first implies passivity. Just because a set-top box is tuned to a specific network does not mean that there are viewers receiving that content. There are ways to ascertain viewing from tuning streams, such as examining activity from the remote - channel change, trick play and set on or off - but this is still a measurement "work in progress.

Gregg Liebman, senior vice president, ad sales and sports research, Turner, started in the industry on the agency side before moving to the networks. This gives him a uniquely long-term perspective on the industry in general and in research specifically. In my interview with him, Gregg talks about his extensive research background from both an agency and content provider perspective, the importance of quality custom research in conjunction with syndicated services, Turner's groundbreaking approach to research, and some predictions about the media landscape in the next five years.

NBC kicked off the 2012-13 broadcast upfront season with a move that may have alienated millions of people: the cancellation of legal drama "Harry's Law," this despite the fact that it often was the network's most watched entertainment series during its two-year run. The trouble with "Harry," as NBC noted, was that its audience was unmanageably older-skewing, even though it was much larger than that of many other television shows. That means most of its viewers were 55-plus -- or "dead," in the eyes of advertisers who continue to lust after the 18-34, 18-49 and, less passionately, 25-54 demographic groups.

Middleware is ubiquitous to computing infrastructure, but also holds special importance in the world of return-path data and measurement. RPD middleware not only provides a range of data capabilities including interactivity and addressability, it also may contain strains of usage data that need to be captured and merged with other collections of data from the box and associated streams. Let's look at the terms and definitions associated with middleware:

Over a half century ago, TV measurement was invented. Advertisers wanted to know whether their TV ads were effective. How to define "effective"? The ultimate answer: Did the ads drive consumers to action, to buy the product or service being advertised? This kind of detailed information was simply not available, so the industry settled for a weak proxy: Were my ads even seen? A sampling system was set up to monitor if the TV program was watched by a small number of panelists who had an "opportunity to see" the ads And these panelists had to be actively engaged, raising …

What a disappointment the previous season of "The Office" turned out to be. A show that was once a glory of television comedy has now become merely "pretty good." Last year at this time, I pondered whether any sitcom could retain its creative energy for more than seven seasons, especially after the departure of its main star, and now I think we have the answer. Unlike other great comedies that decided to go out on top ("The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Cheers" and "Seinfeld"), "The Office" clearly lingered past its natural end point.

We all think we know what television is. After all, we talk about it all the time. But my concept of what television currently is has been changing. Three recent events confirmed to me that television is evolving in a direction that requires a change in definition.

Speaking in general terms, AMC's "The Pitch" is the smartest and most entertaining new reality series of the year. On a more specific note, it is also the most enlightening, at least for those of us who often wonder about the creative side of advertising.

Origination addresses embedded in the set-top box and in the data stream, which enable household or even viewer identification, must be anonymized to protect consumer privacy. There are two main addresses - the IP Address and the MAC address. While both addresses apply to the set-top box, they are not the same.

Once a quarter, Nielsen takes a break from ruining the mood of TV executives who can't understand why their shows don't get higher ratings, and delivers the calming message that all is generally OK in the TV industry. Last week was no different. Nielsen's Cross Platform Report for the fourth quarter of 2011 showed once again that for all the hyperventilating about Hulu, Netflix, Rokku, Apple TV, Blu-ray players, iPads, smartphones and other potential TV-busting devices, television viewing habits remain largely unchanged.