Nielsen Media expects to report its first PVR-included ratings numbers on Jan. 4, according to an article in Multichannel News. The first week of ratings is Dec.
26-Jan. 1 and will include 60 households that own PVRs. Nielsen will gradually increase the number of PVR homes until
it reaches the expected percentage of PVR owners.Multichannel News reports on a CBS research report that found that broadcast networks will gain more from the new ratings than cable TV networks. The ratings for top series should increase by an average of 4 percent, according to the CBS research.
Soon, it won't matter to advertisers and the networks whether programs are watched live or by delay via PVRs. And the new ratings should provide some interesting information on the viewing patterns of PVR owners.
UPDATE: lost remote is posting about how Fox's House show was affected by the first Nielsen ratings to include PVR viewers. Because of the PVR viewership, the show's rating went up from 2.2 to 2.3. That's a lot of extra money in advertising revenues for the network.
