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Just a second. I want to address the social diagnosis of addiction (i.e. that done by non-professionals). I've heard plenty of people throw the accusation that someone is addicted to video games because they spend a large chunk of time playing them. They want to think their diagnosis is correct but by itself time spent playing cannot be a good indication of addiction. You might ask why not? Obviously if someone is as much time playing video games than working something is wrong, correct? Well the average American spends nearly as much time watching TV as they do working and that number is climbing. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/record-high-tv-use-despite-onlinemobile-video-gains/ So is nearly every American addicted to the TV, well that is a different argument but I would wager that most people who cry out video game addiction wouldn't call TV addiction on their significant other, child, friend,... If a man vegges out for a College football marathon on Saturday and doesn't move for 15 hours, he is normal. However if a man vegges out for 8 hours straight on a Saturday playing a video game, his life is in shambles and he has no grasp on reality.

His bio is available online.

From the bio (above):

Mitchell holds a Masters of Public Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Florida.

How the f**k does a person with such a background become a CIO?!?!? Shouldn't have at least a science degree, let alone a CS or CSEE degree??

Nielsen's press release has some info.

It looks like they are trying to use audio signatures and an online survey.

In other words they guess.

Nielsen *does* track DVRs and TiVo. Take a look at their Top tens and you'll see that they include same-day DVR playback (they also have a 7-day DVR playback stat, but beyond that the numbers just aren't that useful to advertisers). They also do Internet ratings too, but they aren't as big there.

Nielsen *does* track DVRs and TiVo. Take a look at their Top tens and you'll see that they include same-day DVR playback (they also have a 7-day DVR playback stat, but beyond that the numbers just aren't that useful to advertisers). They also do Internet ratings too, but they aren't as big there.

You can complain to Arbitron all you like. It won't do you much good though. Nielsen Media Research runs the television ratings surveys.