Joe Mandese

Yielding to pressure from Madison Avenue, Nielsen announced a plan that would continue to make live-only local TV ratings data available for the foreseeable future.

A look at Nielsen's decision to remove live-only ratings from the local television marketplace beginning January 1, 2010. Could this be the worst thing ever at the worst time ever for local TV?

Digital media business models are improving for big, traditional media companies as they learn to adapt, but they are still nowhere near the golden days of analog media, and may never be again, Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal said.

Digital media business models are improving for big, traditional media companies as they learn to adapt, but they are still nowhere near the golden days of analog media, and may never be again, Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal said.

Nielsen has decided on a plan to install Internet meters alongside TV meters in its entire TV measurement panel over the next year, with the possibility of providing a so-called "single source" measurement of television programming viewed across the two media as soon as 2011.

Nielsen has invited a small group of its most influential clients to participate in a "special meeting" next week to discuss how it should handle the way it measures and reports viewing of conventional TV programming accessed via online media.

In another step toward the integration of online and television, TV ratings researcher Nielsen Co. has informed its clients that it is adding new sample characteristics to its ratings software that will enable advertisers, agencies and media companies to identify the composition of TV audiences based on their household Internet connection speed, persons Internet usage, whether the households are "telephone-capable," and whether the households play video games.

TV ratings giant Nielsen has decided not to adjust its national TV ratings sample to ensure that it properly represents households equipped with personal computers or Internet access.

In a memo to staff, Nielsen CEO Susan Whiting responded to recent reports of an industry consortium that plans to launch a new "three-screen" measurement system this fall.

Ad spending in the US media tracked by the Nielsen Co. declined 12% during the first quarter of 2009, as compared with the same quarter in 2008. Preliminary figures show that the decline amounts to a drop of $3.8 billion in total US ad spending, Nielsen said.