Advanced Television

TiVo local ratings

April 20, 2009

TiVo plans to begin this summer to provide anonymous, second-by-second ratings data for programmes and commercials airing in local U.S. markets, which the company says will provide greater granularity than current ratings samples from Nielsen and other measurement firms.

The new “StopWatch Local Markets” service will only launch in a handful of markets–at least three, but no more than 10, says Todd Juenger, VP and general manager of TiVo audience research and measurement.

The company has already discussed the service with potential customers, including advertisers and station groups, which have been looking for greater accountability in measuring local content than the diary information typically used. But it has no deal for the service at this time.

“Even if we had demand for 50, we’d probably cap it at 10,” says Juenger. “It’s a lot of data to crunch.”

Other features of the new service, which will launch in time for the fall broadcast season, will include second-by-second anonymous audience measurement, which enables measurement of specific commercials; and live and timeshifted anonymous monitoring of DVR viewing behavior and commercial fast-forwarding. TiVo says its sample also covers all the way people consume TV, including digital cable, analog cable, satellite, over-the-air and telco providers.

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