After several false starts, it looks like Nielsen is finally getting ready to roll out minute-by-minute ratings data in April, including, for the first time, commercial ratings.Apparently network execs aren't thrilled with the April 24th date set by Nielsen, because it doesn't give them much time to analyze the data before the May upfront period. That's when they announce shows fro the upcoming season and begin negotiations for commercial rates.
Nielsen has not yet announced a method for tracking commercial ratings in homes where viewers use PVRs to time-shift their viewing.
At a meeting with Clients this week, Nielsen said that almost half of PVR users watch prime-time TV in "playback mode," while advertisers usually by air-time based on the assumption that their commercials will be seen "live."
