Nielsen Media Research is in the early stages of installing Internet tracking software on the home computers of people in its TV ratings households. The goal is to measure traditional TV and online video content. So far they are only measuring a small number of homes.
“To date we have installed and are receiving Internet data from more than 20 homes,” said Nielsen CEO Susan Whiting. The research program is expected to be one of the most expensive in the company’s history. Nielsen also has plans to expand their tracking of video content to public places and mobile devices. The initiative is called Anytime/Anywhere measurement.
Nielsen plans to have the software installed by mid February on all the meter households in the two test groups. It has not been disclosed how many households would be involved in the measurement or when data would be made available to the media and public. Whiting did say Nielsen has discovered, “a good deal about recruiting households for Internet measurement.”
Nielsen is working with its division Nielsen//NetRatings on the project. Nielsen has also been using fusion research combining Nielsen TV ratings with NetRatings’ online audience.
Nielsen has increased their tracking of portable device video devices as well. IPods and MP3 players are included in its plan to measure mobile video usage. Nielsen has added several questions to its quarterly Home Technology Report. Findings for the third quarter of 2006 said that 27 percent of U.S. households had an MP3 player and that 7 percent had a video-capable MP3 player.
When the data to this ambitious project is released it will be intriguing to see the results. Marketers, advertisers, media outlets will be curious to know the outcome.
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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
