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Nielsen Will Start Tracking Netflix and Amazon Video
An anonymous reader writes Nielsen is going to start studying the streaming behavior of online viewers for the first time. Netflix has never released detailed viewership data, but Nielsen says they have developed a way for its rating meters to track shows by identifying their audio. From the article: "Soon Nielsen, the standard-bearer for TV ratings, may change that. The TV ratings company revealed to the Wall Street Journal that it's planning to begin tracking viewership of online video services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video in December by analyzing the audio of shows that are being streamed. The new ratings will come with a lot of caveats—they won't track mobile devices and won't take into account Netflix's large global reach—but they will provide a sense for the first time which Netflix shows are the most popular. And if the rest of the media world latches onto these new ratings as a standard, Netflix won't be able to ignore them."
Yes, but not given publicly. This is so that shows can use the ratings as leverage in negotiating contracts with Netflix. Which is also why netflix doesn't release the data publicly. They don't want some show figuruing out that half the netflix audiance watches the same program every time it's pushed out. They might think they have an angle and try to get more money out of netflix, or more money out of one of their competitors by offering and exclusive deal. Like Downton Abbey giving exclusive rights to Amazon because they needed something to get people to watch Amazon over Hulu.