Should DVR Views be counted in Nielson Ratings?

Its no secret that the HT Guys are big fans of the DVR. In some ways you might say its the most important part of our entertainment systems. With so many people time shifting what they are watching, is the current Nielsen rating system adequate for measuring viewership?

We can understand that advertisers have spots that need to be watched in real time. If a movie is out of the theaters when you finally get around to watching the ad on your favorite program who cares if the audience size is doubled. Let’s not forget that many ads are simply skipped over with DVRs. Still a large number of viewers still watch ads while time shifting so this could be lucrative for advertisers.

There are some ads that can sit around for a few weeks or even a month. So why not buy time on shows that may not have great ratings live but still manage to pull in viewers when DVR views are included. This may save some great shows, Fringe comes to mind, that don’t have large live audiences but have a good following once the DVR views are counted after just one week. See below:

Network/Show                    Live Audience Rating         Live Audience +DVR Rating

Fox/New Girl                          4.8                                       6.7

NBC/Up All Night                   2.4                                       3.5

Fox/Fringe                              1.5                                       2.3

ABC/Modern Family               6.0                                       8.3

NBC/The Office                      5.4                                       7.2

NBC/Whitney                          3.3                                       4.2

CBS/Two and a Half Men       10.7                                     12.5

ABC/Dancing with the Stars   4.0                                       4.5

Viewership may increase slightly with an additional week.

An issue advertisers would face is that these results come in well after the fact and they won’t know if a show has a good DVR following for a few weeks. In today’s environment some networks pull the plug before they have these numbers. Some good shows may canceled right away.

We typically have shows on the DVR that are a few weeks old. Although the majority are watched within a few days. We like saving some shows for Friday and Saturday night. It beats going to the movies. Last week we watched two episodes of Fringe back to back. Its more fun when you don’t have to wait an entire week for the next episode. Many viewers do the same thing so its important to take a long view with these numbers.

We would like to propose that Nielsen add a couple of columns to their ratings. Show advertisers and network executives Live Ratings, Live Plus One and Live Plus Two ratings. To network executives we ask that you hold off canceling any TV programs for at least four weeks. To advertisers consider running spots on television shows that have large DVR based followings. You may get a great deal and reach more people than you would by advertising someplace else.

What are your viewing habits? How long do you wait until you view your recordings?

Comments

[araknd]

Hey guys, love the podcast, I listen regularly. I have been meaning to write in every time the Nielsen subject comes up. A few years ago, we were part of the "Neilsen Family". We had a Sony 46" rear projection HDTV at the time, with a Cox cable box, a huge 27" Sony XBR CRT TV and a little 19" in the guest room. We did not have a DVR at first, but later did get one. The system that Neilsen put in was highly automated and we did not have to fill out logs or diaries or anything like that. Technicians came in and wired up our three TVs, cable boxes and even the ancient VCR in the guest bedroom. As one of the technicians explained it to me, they monitor the audio output and can catalog what you are watching in that manner, so even if we watched a show a week after recording it, it would still get counted. All of the data was compiled in a black box which was networked to the TV systems and late at night it phoned home and dumped all of it's data. The technician explained that at Neilsen HQ they had access to all the time codes for the programs and could then tell what channel was being watched by cross-compiling the captured and downloaded data with the audio time codes. In so doing they could actually tell how long we stayed on a particular channel and what ads were playing during that time. They typically only have participants in the program for a certain amount of time (2-3 years) or until the demographics change.

To answer your question, I generally view the shows I record within a day or two, but have gone a week or so depending on what the show is.

Keep up the good work.