Alert reader “Carl LaFong” pointed out in our comments that Nielsen Media has, for quite some time, tracked and continues to track VCR recording as part of its household ratings reports. I honestly couldn’t believe that was the case.
Carl sent an email to me with two graphic excerpts from a Nielsen NTI Pocketpiece report (after the break) and explained:
Note the column “VCR Contrb.” That indicates the portion of the national household rating accounted for by VCR recording (not necessarily viewing).
Nielsen includes this data in its national data for network, cable and syndication. Virtually every number you see from Nielsen, the media, the press and ad agencies includes VCR record data, for every data stream from “Live” to “Live plus 7.” It can be manually removed, but rarely is. It may not be mentioned by the disseminators of the info, but VCR record has been part of the ratings since the dawn of the peoplemeter era. I’ve also included a page from the Pocketpiece which gives the definition of the VCR Contrb column.
My life’s mantra of “Often Wrong, Never In Doubt” would be untenable if I were not able to have my ignorance regularly washed away. From now on, we’ll let folks know that the average audience calculation by Nielsen Media does include VCR recording.
More information on the Nielsen NTI Pocketpiece:
The Pocketpiece is the best known and longest continuously produced Nielsen Media Research ratings report. It reports the level of audience during the quarter-hour in which a commercial aired. The user can spot the influences of “specials,” changes in competition, or the impact of nonnetwork viewing sources. In addition, information on general television viewing alerts the user to the best audience potential for a product and to changes in trends as they occur.
The Pocketpiece report is issued weekly, 52 weeks a year, and contains a wealth of information about national television including:
* Household and persons audience estimates for all sponsored broadcast network programs
* Demographics matched to specific daypart target audiences
* Quarter-to-date program averages
* Premiere-to-date program averages
* Program type averages
* Household and persons TV usage by time period
* VCR contribution by program
If I had any hostages, I’d demand all shows recorded via DVR but not watched be counted too!! in the name of fairness and all.
That said, using the numbers above as an example, the VCR viewership looks to be TINY compared to DVR viewership.
If I had any hostages, I'd demand all shows recorded via DVR but not watched be counted too!! in the name of fairness and all.
That said, using the numbers above as an example, the VCR viewership looks to be TINY compared to DVR viewership.
“the DVR viewership looks to be TINY compared to DVR viewership.”
I think you mean VCR in the first instance.
“the DVR viewership looks to be TINY compared to DVR viewership.”
I think you mean VCR in the first instance.
indeed. I corrected it. At least I spelled judgment properly
indeed. I corrected it. At least I spelled judgment properly
Robert – I’m assuming that VCR recording info would only be able to be tracked from Nielsen families. However, I assumed that DVR viewing was tracked through TiVo and other outlets as well. Or are the DVR numbers just from Nielsen families? Forgive my ignorance. Also, why would Nielsen even bother with VCR recordings anymore? That’s like asking who still records music using a cassette tape.
Robert – I'm assuming that VCR recording info would only be able to be tracked from Nielsen families. However, I assumed that DVR viewing was tracked through TiVo and other outlets as well. Or are the DVR numbers just from Nielsen families? Forgive my ignorance. Also, why would Nielsen even bother with VCR recordings anymore? That's like asking who still records music using a cassette tape.
Polly – TiVo sells their data to customers (primarily advertisers and networks) independently.
All our current data about DVR viewing (and as it turns out VCR recording) comes from Nielsen and is collected just from Nielsen families, although in the past we used to republish the “Top TiVo Recorded” list that TiVo publishes each week.
Polly – TiVo sells their data to customers (primarily advertisers and networks) independently.
All our current data about DVR viewing (and as it turns out VCR recording) comes from Nielsen and is collected just from Nielsen families, although in the past we used to republish the “Top TiVo Recorded” list that TiVo publishes each week.
Bill – Do you know if the networks/advertisers look at or care about the TiVo numbers?
For all the Nielsen naysayers out there I think it would be interesting to know if the Nielsen DVR reporting is a close match with TiVo. Or are there too many disparities?
Bill – Do you know if the networks/advertisers look at or care about the TiVo numbers?
For all the Nielsen naysayers out there I think it would be interesting to know if the Nielsen DVR reporting is a close match with TiVo. Or are there too many disparities?
Polly, in the publicly reported TiVo data, it’s just a ranking of the shows with the highest number of people using the season pass feature.
Nielsen tracks actual viewing. We’re sure TiVo does too, but we don’t get access to ANY of that data.
Polly, in the publicly reported TiVo data, it's just a ranking of the shows with the highest number of people using the season pass feature.
Nielsen tracks actual viewing. We're sure TiVo does too, but we don't get access to ANY of that data.
Robert & Bill – thanks for the info. It’s not surprising that we aren’t able to compare the two. That would be too easy!
Robert & Bill – thanks for the info. It's not surprising that we aren't able to compare the two. That would be too easy!
TiVo has announced a number of clients that have subscribed to their minute by minute viewing data “TiVo Stopwatch”. If I was a network or an advertising agency making big money decisions I’d want all the data I could get.
Do they care about the TiVo numbers? Perhaps they’ve learned some things of a tactical nature like how to structure commercial pods, etc, but do they care from a big money perspective the way they do about Nielsen ratings numbers, not a chance.
My guess is that TiVo owners likely timeshift more than the typical DVR ownwers, they made early adopter decisions to go out and buy the hardware, most DVR owners got it later from their cableco or satco. But we have little data to go on.
We had an item in February about TiVo timeshifting behavior and the Super Bowl that gave a single datapoint showing that TiVo users time-shifted the Super Bowl about 50% more than other DVR owners.
TiVo has announced a number of clients that have subscribed to their minute by minute viewing data “TiVo Stopwatch”. If I was a network or an advertising agency making big money decisions I'd want all the data I could get.
Do they care about the TiVo numbers? Perhaps they've learned some things of a tactical nature like how to structure commercial pods, etc, but do they care from a big money perspective the way they do about Nielsen ratings numbers, not a chance.
My guess is that TiVo owners likely timeshift more than the typical DVR ownwers, they made early adopter decisions to go out and buy the hardware, most DVR owners got it later from their cableco or satco. But we have little data to go on.
We had an item in February about TiVo timeshifting behavior and the Super Bowl that gave a single datapoint showing that TiVo users time-shifted the Super Bowl about 50% more than other DVR owners.