Nielsen TV ratings to include ‘cord cutters’
February 22, 2013
TV ratings company Nielsen has revealed plans to expand their definition of “TV” to include viewers watching TV over broadband.
The new definition of a “TV household,” is any household with “at least one operable TV/monitor with the ability to deliver video via traditional means of antennae, cable [set-top box] or satellite receiver and/or with broadband connection.”
“Nielsen’s objective is to measure video content however consumers access it,” Pat McDonough, Nielsen’s senior VP of insights and analysis, said. “In the last decade, the places and ways consumers can view content have grown significantly. Over the last 12 months, Nielsen has explored expanding the current definition of a TV household to more accurately reflect media consumption and technology advancements.”
The ratings firm also did research, said McDonough, into homes that did not fit into the current definition of a Nielsen household and found that while a lot of them had televisions, they were using broadband streaming for their content.
By the autumn TV season begins, Nielsen hopes to be able to measure viewership from streaming services on the 23,000 TV homes it samples, and Nielsen hopes to be able to include video viewing on the iPad by the end of the year.