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CNBC.com |
Nielsen is launching a new service that uses data from cable set-top boxes in a deal with the National Geographic Channel. Nielsen is accessing information from 330,000 homes in the Los Angeles area through a deal made with cable company Charter Communications [CHTR
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] this past spring.
With this data National Geographic is tweaking its use of commercials: where it places them, and how it uses re-caps to keep viewers tuned in. So far its working. Viewership of its commercials, including those seen up to three days after a show airs, was up to 96 percent of the show's total viewership in the third quarter, from 83 percent in the second quarter. IF a network can tell advertisers exactly how many people are watching their messages, they can surely charge more and attract more marketers.
Nielsen may have dominated television ratings with its people meter, but the landscape has gotten a lot more crowded in the past decade with TNS Media Intelligence and TiVo[TIVO
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] also offering TV viewership metrics, including sophisticated second-by-second breakdowns of how people watch commercials. Nielsen no longer dominates the space, because all these other players see the money in this information.
Advertisers want to understand how people watch during commercial breaks to inform their purchasing. As anyone with a DVR device can guess, the first and last commercials are viewed more than those in the middle. More surprising, what one might call serious watchers-- people tuning in for sporting events are documentaries-- have a tendency to channel surf during commercial breaks. Meanwhile those watching cartoons or primetime dramas will surf. When the programmers start really using all this data about how people watch and skip, it'll be interesting to see how the numbers shift.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes