In the U.K., "TV needs you." So says Kantar Media as it looks to recruit people to join the panel that generates TV ratings in Britain. Residents who allow people meters to be installed at home can pick up nice incentives from earrings to a bottle of Smirnoff to a recreational airplane ride ("barrel role" possible!).

Demand for national TV time looks to have been relatively healthy last month. Either that or deft inventory management seems to have been in play at the Big Four broadcasters. By one measure, prime-time ratings were flat at NBC and down precipitously at the other three. Yet, combined ad spending by four large media entities -- across all dayparts -- was up at all four networks.

Brand entertainment can be like walking in a haunted house-- at least to one late night talk show host. It can turn your stomach. Conan O'Brien says talking up a product on his TBS late night talk show without his usual comedic spin can be "creepy." Doritos, for example, might not work when creatives are too specific with exactly what they want him to say.

Nielsen isn't abandoning set-top-box (STB) data, but it's substantially scaling back plans to use it for local measurement. It boils down to the need for speed. In the 55 largest markets, Nielsen has determined -- at least for now -- that it's not possible to collect and process the data in a timely enough fashion to continue with overnight ratings - a client request. So, Nielsen has altered the new "hybrid" system it laid out last summer.

Lost in some of last week's hoopla around an ESPN cross-platform measurement initiative was Telemundo embarking on a similar effort. The Spanish-language media company is looking to measure behavior among Hispanics across four segments: TV, online, mobile and social. The project Telemundo's commissioned will use resources from Symphony Advanced Media (SymphonyAM), which collects data on multi-media usage, and Vision Critical, which develops panels. It's the first time the two have measurement entities have worked together.

Would Chase Carey take it back if he could? Certainly, as one of the smartest media executives around with impressive tenures at DirecTV and News Corp., he doesn't need any advice from the media. But, in retrospect, he might have been better off cutting his April comments about Aereo short. The suggestion he made - that Fox could move to pay-TV distribution -- has brought potentially troubling interest on Capitol Hill and may have only helped the enemy Carey and colleagues would like to quash.

Creative types who are lamenting DVRs neutering their ads may have a new challenge on their hands: social media. How are they going to get millennials who are watching TV with their heads buried in Facebook and Twitter to pay more attention to their spots?

In response to a recent TVBlog titled "Nielsen Poised To Win Online Measurement Derby," industry researcher Tony Jarvis says suggestions a single measurement company will provide data that forms the currency for multiple platforms are misguided. Jarvis, who runs Olympic Media Consultancy and has worked with the likes of P&G and GlaxoSmithKline on the agency side, argues that in the online space, it is "imperative" that comScore "wins," though competition from Nielsen can help spur innovation.

When a company is eager for FTC approval of a proposed acquisition, it's a relief when a leading customer comes out in favor of it. Nielsen has to take heart from CBS's top researcher David Poltrack supporting its proposed purchase of Arbitron.

As head of sales at ABC, Geri Wang has considerable visibility into operations at the largest media agencies and she's frustrated by the adaption rate. From her perspective, integration between the TV and digital-video operations remains lumpy, and it's hindering ABC's efforts to speed cross-platform sales.