Viacom Looks for MORE Data

Viacom wants MORE information and they are looking to get second-by-second information from TNS Media Research. I fear they aren’t going to like what they find and it will be interesting to see how they communicate with the advertising community.

Nielsen Media Research recently began measuring how many people watch commercials and this led to such wacky commentary as “Almost Everyone With a DVR DOES watch commercials!”

It’s true, but it’s spin. To undo the spin would be to say: “Yes, ALL DVR viewers eventually watch a commercial but most DVR viewers don’t watch most of the ads most of the time and this is ESPECIALLY true for the middle pods, so if you’re in the middle pod you should NEVER PAY for the +7 (DVR) viewers.”

As ever, “truth” in advertising can be hard to come by.