Nielsen Adds DVR Viewers To Ratings

6 Mar, 2006 General News

As the DVR becomes more common in todays households, Nielsen has realized that they need to include DVR viewings of TV shows in their ratings. As a result, they have added a new type of rating they call live plus seven day ratings. In essence, this means that these ratings include not only live viewings of TV shows but also a show that is viewed within 7 days on any DVR device (TiVo, ReplayTV, etc.).

I think this is a good sign. For a while now I’ve been worried that some shows ratings may be affected adversely by DVR usage. For example, I have two DVR units in my house (a ReplayTV and a Comcast HD DVR) and I rarely watch live TV anymore. If my household were a Nielsen Ratings Household (which it is not ), the TV shows that I watch on my DVR would not be included in the ratings for my household. This would include the TV shows that deserve my ratings the most, since I make sure that my favorite shows are always recorded on my DVR. I think this is the case for any Nielsen household that has a DVR, so including these DVR viewings in the ratings will only help to make the Nielsen ratings a more accurate representation of the number of viewers of a TV show. It’s also a sign that the DVR is here to stay — which is also a good thing!