Nielsen plans to look beyond the living room for TV ratings
The Super Bowl, it has long been understood, is the most-watched event on television -- except that so many people leave home for the occasion, nobody knows just how most-watched it is.
That may be about to change, granting a long-held wish of the TV networks.
Under a plan announced Thursday by ratings giant Nielsen Co., thousands of people will be sent into the world this fall with gadgets designed to detect what’s on TV screens wherever they are. That includes hotels, bars and Super Bowl parties.
The network and stations that air the football championship -- and sell ads based on viewership -- will probably be the largest beneficiaries. Other winners should include daytime soaps and cable news watched in the office and shows playing to groups of college students.
“This is a very positive effort to address at least one gaping hole in the Nielsen measurement,” said Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s president of research. “We’ve been after them to do this for years.”
The roaming Nielsen panelists will carry mobile phones equipped with software that records the sounds around them. Nielsen will analyze 10-second clips and compare them to a database of recorded broadcast TV and cable programming.
Integrated Media Measurement Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., which developed the software, said that even the noise of a party shouldn’t stop the Nielsen phones from learning what they want to know. Televisions with the sound turned off won’t register, but then those viewers watching silent sets probably aren’t paying much attention to the commercials anyway.
Once the out-of-home data is combined with the regular Nielsen ratings -- which Nielsen said might not happen for several years -- the networks should be able to charge advertisers for roving viewers.
“It can only help,” said Preston Beckman, head of scheduling and research at Fox. “Obviously sports is going to benefit.” He added that “American Idol” probably was also “a shared viewing experience” for many.
The plan comes as the major networks grapple with declining ratings and the fear that more advertisers will desert them for the Internet. And one of the Web’s advantages is that it is easier to track ads’ effectiveness.
The networks and the ratings companies that serve them are seeking more data to stanch the bleeding, with the advertisers an eager audience for additional numbers.
“The old saying is, 50% of advertising is wasted -- we just don’t know which 50%,” said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast buying at Carat North America Inc.
“We can’t say that anymore. We’re looking to get a more accountable type of system,” Donchin said. “I’m still a believer in television. I think this is going to show just how powerful it is.”
Nielsen is playing all sides of the game, watching not only what’s viewed on metered television sets but on home computers and iPods as well. For good measure, it just started using global positioning system devices to track which billboards commuters are driving past.
“It’s a very complicated playing field right now,” Donchin said.
