New system to help boost media ratings

Online media monitoring makes a move forward towards accurate rating and screening of commercials with the launch of a new system.

Global research company Nielsen's new system will enable networks and syndicators to automatically log when and where their commercials ran, said the company representatives.

It will make it easier and more consistent for TV channels and even advertisers to keep a track of their ads as the system automatically logs in and saves the data for processing later, they said at the launch of the system.

It will help in eliminating discrepancies and inaccuracies in compiling reports.

The new system was introduced in the US last week, two years after Nielsen introduced commercial ratings as the official currency of the TV advertising. It is expected to be rolled out to other parts of the world, after initial runs in the US.

The auto logging system, formally known as the Log Automation System, is launched in the US to accommodate the new TV season and most networks announce new seasons around this time. The system was formally announced in January and has been undergoing trials since then, before being launched in the market.

Media experts believe that such measures will further enhance TV's share of advertising revenue that has been constantly growing since the financial crisis and taking a major chunk of the ad spend from print and other conventional mediums.

Company executives said the data collated by the new system is integrated to produce average commercial minute ratings – known as the C3 ratings. Insiders say that Nielsen had to work out a new supporting system to feed data in C3 to improve on their accuracies of surveys that were questioned for accreditation and accuracies by country's media watchdog Media Rating Council.


US TV viewers turn to web

US television viewers are increasingly turning on the web, tuning into television and not missing a beat on either, as simultaneous TV and internet use continues to rise, said research firm Nielsen.

The company said in a report that 57 per cent of TV viewers in the US, who have internet access, use both mediums at the same time at least once a month. That translates to more than 128 million US consumers. "What we're finding is that there's a connection between the two media, and that innovative marketers can take advantage of that," said Gary Holmes, a spokesman for Nielsen.

The study found the average TV viewer who uses the internet simultaneously does that for two hours and 40 minutes a month and that 28 per cent of the time they are on the web at home, they are also watching television.

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