Nielsen announces schedule for online/offline TV metric

The firm announced last September that it had developed the technology to run alongside its TV meters to capture ratings data from services that show television programming online, such as OnDemand Online and TV Everywhere.

Nielsen said that it expects to have the new meter installed in approximately 7,500 National People Meter households by August, which would represent 20,000 people and 12,000 computers.

The new panel will complement the existing 230,000-strong online measurement panel and produce a new “extended screen” rating that combines online viewing data with standard TV audience figures. The new rating will cover TV shows that air the the same programme and advertising content on television and online.

Sara Erichson (pictured), Nielsen’s president of media client services in North America, said that the first set of evaluation data would be released during the fourth quarter of 2010, and the first full set of standard results will be released in February 2011.