The Marketing Bureau

By Michael Carney

As those of you with a MySky, MyFreeview or TiVo box in your homes will attest, viewing habits change significantly when you have a Personal Video Recorder (PVR). Time-Shifted Viewing (whether by a few seconds or a few weeks) becomes your primary television-watching method -- "live" television is a rarity.

PVR-enabled homes exhibit lots of other evolved viewing tendencies as well (much of which we've covered extensively in past newsletters). As you might imagine, current TV audience measurement reporting doesn't capture those changed behaviours very well.  

As New Zealand PVR penetration nears 20%, it's time for a change. Nielsen, which has been keeping close watch on television habits, last week unveiled its plans for a new TAM (Television Audience Measurement) methodology, due to launch during 2011. 

The new offering will capture Time-Shifted Viewing in the first instance, but will also be as future-proofed as possible to measure Kiwi viewing as we migrate to the increasingly diverse range of devices now available out there (iPad, Mobile, Internet TV, XBox, PS3, yadda yadda yadda).

Key elements of the Nielsen presentation:

•   The number of NZ homes in the Nielsen panel will increase from 500 to 600 homes
•   New UNITAM (Universal Television Audience Measurement) devices will be installed, initially in those homes with PVRs (i.e. approximately 20% of the total sample)
•   Reporting will expand from "Live" to encompass Playback
•   Playback is separated into "As Live" (same day) and "Time Shifted" (playback within seven days)
•   Only viewing taking place at standard speed playback will be included in total viewing -- “Trick” mode activity is excluded – pause, fast-forward, rewind
•   Nielsen's chosen technnology solution is UNITAM, which uses sophisticated audio matching technologies to measure all viewing to all reported channels on all TV sets in panel homes

Once the UNITAM solution is implemented, two ratings datasets will be delivered each day

•   Live + “As Live” ratings
•   Consolidated figures

These developments will change the "currency" of television audience measurement -- but it'll also provide results that more closely reflect today's (and tomorrow's) television viewing realities.

Michael Carney is available for consultation and contract assignments in relation to Consumer Research, Trend Analysis, Strategic Planning, eMarketing, eCommerce, Writing and Media. Contact 021 1493 403 or editor@marketingweek.co.nz