Nielsen launches Commercial Minute Ratings in standardized file.

The Nielsen Company began offering the first standardized ratings of television commercials, giving clients a way to measure the impact on commercial viewing of digital video recorders (DVRs) and other “time-shifting” technologies.

Until now, ratings of television programs have been used for negotiating the buying and selling of commercial time. However, because of the increasing use of DVRs and the ability of consumers to fast-forward through commercials during DVR playback, clients asked Nielsen last year to provide a closer measure of the audience for commercials, not only when programs are viewed live but when played back as well.

Nielsen will offer clients a new Average Commercial Minute electronic data file that provides an average rating for the commercial minutes in each television program. This data will be available back to April 30th and will cover six “streams” of viewing data:

— Live viewing;
— Live viewing plus DVR playback on the same day; and
— Live viewing plus DVR playback for one, two, three and seven days.

All broadcast, cable and syndicated programming will be included in the new average commercial minute electronic data file, which supplements individual commercial minute ratings data already available in Nielsen’s NPOWER software and its All Minute Data File. These products enable clients to look at individual minute ratings, including commercial minutes, at any interval of DVR playback ranging from one minute delayed viewing to seven days.

“Today’s launch of average commercial minute ratings culminates a year-long effort to deliver a new way of measuring television viewing,” said Sara Erichson, Executive Vice President, Client Services for Nielsen Media Research. “Nielsen worked very closely with all client groups to develop this new measurement. Our clients will determine which of these data streams they want to use for negotiating the buying and selling of advertising and whether it be for the upcoming television season or the following one.”

Ten Percent of all Broadcast Primetime Viewing Now Seen Via DVR Playback

About 17% of households in the U.S. currently have DVRs. Within these households, 58% of broadcast primetime viewing takes place live, with 42% occurring through some form of DVR playback. 95% of all broadcast prime time viewing within these homes (Live + Playback) takes place within three days of the live telecast. The amount of cable and syndicated viewing that occurs via DVR playback is lower, with 85% of cable primetime viewing and 84% of syndicated programming taking place live, respectively, in DVR households Almost all viewing to cable and syndicated programming (Live plus Playback) occurs within three days.

Among all U.S. households, including those without DVRs, 90% of all broadcast primetime viewing among viewers age 18-49 occurs live, meaning that 10% is seen via DVR playback. Again, the impact of DVRs on viewing cable and syndicated programming is lower, with 97% of all primetime viewing on cable seen live and 98% of all syndicated programming seen live.

Impact of DVR Playback on Program and Commercial Ratings

When DVR playback is included in the ratings, audiences increase for both programs and commercials, although at different rates. For example, Nielsen can compare Live Program Ratings (which have been used as the basis for buying and selling commercial time during this current season) to Average Commercial Ratings for different levels of DVR playback.

Among households with DVRs, the average primetime broadcast program audience increases 40% when including same day DVR playback and 73% when including three days of playback. Audiences for commercial minutes within these broadcast programs increase 18% and 32% respectively. Both cable network and syndicated programs and commercials also show increases, although at lower rates.

Ratings of Commercial Audiences When Including DVR Playback

Among broadcast primetime programs, The Office had the highest percentage of people watching its commercials when including three days of DVR playback, compared to the initial live-only rating of the program.

Altogether, viewing to the commercial minutes, on average, in The Office after three days of DVR playback was 108% of the total viewing level for the live program itself.

The Office was one of several primetime broadcast network programs that had higher commercial ratings after three days of DVR playback than the live- only program rating. (See table 4 for the programs with the highest index of commercial rating — including three days of playback — to live program rating).

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