2017-04-18T13:31:50-07:00Netflix Ratings Company Shuts Down Service
Netflix's ratings are about to get even less transparent.
Little more than a year after making headlines for professing to know how many users were watching Netflix's sprawling slate of scripted originals, veteran measurement company Symphony Advanced Media has halted its efforts to game the system. Its young VideoPulse service, which drew on a panel of 15,000 users, shut down over the weekend.
"We deeply regret that Symphony Advanced Media will be shutting down its VideoPulse service effective 4/16/2017," reads a statement on the website. "VideoPulse customers will be able to access historical data until 5/1/2017."
Symphony sparked a flurry of trend pieces when it let alleged Netflix "ratings" slip, at first though a January 2016 PowerPoint presentation by former NBCUniversal research chief Alan Wurtzel, and then started regularly releasing estimates of original series audiences over the course of the last year.
Netflix's ratings are about to get even less transparent.
Little more than a year after making headlines for professing to know how many users were watching Netflix's sprawling slate of scripted originals, veteran measurement company Symphony Advanced Media has halted its efforts to game the system. Its young VideoPulse service, which drew on a panel of 15,000 users, shut down over the weekend.
"We deeply regret that Symphony Advanced Media will be shutting down its VideoPulse service effective 4/16/2017," reads a statement on the website. "VideoPulse customers will be able to access historical data until 5/1/2017."
Symphony sparked a flurry of trend pieces when it let alleged Netflix "ratings" slip, at first though a January 2016 PowerPoint presentation by former NBCUniversal research chief Alan Wurtzel, and then started regularly releasing estimates of original series audiences over the course of the last year.
- 4/18/2017
- by EG
- Yidio
Alan Wurtzel is transitioning from his role as NBC’s president of research and development to a senior advisory role at the network. The move was announced today in an internal memo to staff from Jeff Bader, NBC's president of program planning, strategy and research. Going forward, Wurtzel’s research team will now report to Bader’s group which will oversee the research functions for all entertainment programming at NBC network and the Universal Television studios. Program…...
- 1/10/2017
- Deadline TV
NBCUniversal President of Research and Media Development Alan Wurtzel is stepping down from his position and transitioning into a senior advisory role, the company announced on Tuesday. Jeff Bader, President of Program Planning, Strategy and Research, announced the transition. Bader’s group will now oversee the research functions for all entertainment programming at NBC network and the Universal Television studios. “In the research world, Alan is an institution and we are fortunate that he will still be available to us for a variety of projects,” Bader wrote. Also Read: NBCUniversal, Charter Spectrum Extend Contract Talks To Prevent Blackout One of the most respected minds.
- 1/10/2017
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Over the course of a year, we talk to a lot of Hollywood’s brightest talents, about the projects which have inspired them most and the industry which at times supports, and at times hinders, their efforts to make their best work. As individuals, we’re often blown away by their insights; in gathering them together, we end up with a portrait of a community of artists and creators who love their art, for better and for worse.
Read More: The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible
Here are some of the best things our favorite actors, directors, writers, producers and more have shared with us over the last 12 months.
Diversity in the Industry (and The World)
“Do I want to make a huge studio picture that’s incredibly successful? Fuck yes, of course.” – Lake Bell
“‘Dolores, run!’ The first take we did, I ran — I’m not supposed to run.
Read More: The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible
Here are some of the best things our favorite actors, directors, writers, producers and more have shared with us over the last 12 months.
Diversity in the Industry (and The World)
“Do I want to make a huge studio picture that’s incredibly successful? Fuck yes, of course.” – Lake Bell
“‘Dolores, run!’ The first take we did, I ran — I’m not supposed to run.
- 12/16/2016
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
This summer, the last-known videocassette recorder manufacturer shut down production – effectively ending that once-dominant medium after several decades. Could the DVR soon face a similar fate?
More than 17 years after digital video recorder technology was first launched at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show, growth has stalled. About 50 percent of U.S. television households now use a DVR, but that number is flat, and has been for several years. While older viewers continue to adopt the DVR, younger viewers – including Millennials – seem disinterested.
“I think we can fairly say that the DVR’s reign is about to end,” Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research and media development president, recently told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour. “Anybody who wants a DVR has one. If you don’t have one, it’s because you don’t want it.”
According to CBS research, DVR usage by adults 18-49 – still the money demo targeted...
More than 17 years after digital video recorder technology was first launched at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show, growth has stalled. About 50 percent of U.S. television households now use a DVR, but that number is flat, and has been for several years. While older viewers continue to adopt the DVR, younger viewers – including Millennials – seem disinterested.
“I think we can fairly say that the DVR’s reign is about to end,” Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research and media development president, recently told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour. “Anybody who wants a DVR has one. If you don’t have one, it’s because you don’t want it.”
According to CBS research, DVR usage by adults 18-49 – still the money demo targeted...
- 9/6/2016
- by Michael Schneider
- Indiewire
Nearly half of viewers say they wait until they’ve heard good things about a show before they will start watching it, said Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s President of Research and Media Development, today at TCA. “It's one of these things where, like, ‘Don't waste my time on stuff that I'm really not going to like,’ and that puts a pretty big burden on us to essentially get people to kind of sample a program,” Wurtzel explained. Presenting a brain-blistering amount of data on…...
- 8/3/2016
- Deadline TV
At the start of 2016, NBC attempted to find out Netflix's secret ratings for their most popular shows. Netflix basically said, "Nice try, bro" and continued business as usual. But the streaming service has finally decided to throw us all a bone by releasing the premiere numbers for Orange Is the New Black. Alan Wurtzel, NBCU president of research and media development, thought he had cracked Netflix's numbers in January with help from tech firm Symphony. Not only was it an odd thing to do, but the numbers also came from an opt-in app with an incredibly low user base that used audio content recognition technology and the soundtrack of a show to determine what people were watching. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos called it “remarkably inaccurate” and said that it “doesn’t reflect any sense of reality of anything that we keep track of.” But a new...
- 6/30/2016
- by Jill Pantozzi
- Hitfix
This story first appeared in the Jan. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Veterans of recent TV press tours know to expect an industry kerfuffle or two for restless journalists to report and then forget about weeks later. But the most recent TCA fistfight — NBC research guru Alan Wurtzel's surprise reveal Jan. 13 of what he touted as viewership data for some Netflix shows — isn't going away. The data, compiled by Palo Alto, Calif.-based tech startup Symphony Advanced Media, reported that Netflix "hits" like Master of None and
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- 1/20/2016
- by Natalie Jarvey
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
During his TCA winter press presentation, NBC-Uni's Alan Wurtzel revealed ratings for TV series streaming on outlets including Netflix and Amazon. Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix, has fired back, saying the 18-49 demographic numbers cited by Wurtzel are "remarkably inaccurate."
Reportedly, Netflix will spend six billion dollars this year, on acquired series and original programming like Marvel's Daredevil, Orange Is the New Black, and the recently renewed Marvel's Jessica Jones.
Read More…...
Reportedly, Netflix will spend six billion dollars this year, on acquired series and original programming like Marvel's Daredevil, Orange Is the New Black, and the recently renewed Marvel's Jessica Jones.
Read More…...
- 1/19/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has clearly stated the premium subscription streaming service won’t release viewership ratings on its shows until it’s forced to (going so far as to even withhold that information from creators of the platform's popular original films and series). This secretive stance has prompted various research firms and media companies to make educated guesses as to how many people actually watch Netflix, which in turn has prompted Netflix's Sarandos to attempt to discredit those research firms' and media companies' findings.
NBC’s President of Research and Media Development Alan Wurtzel recently revealed some ratings data on Netflix originals including Jessica Jones, Master of None, and Narcos (as well as Amazon’s most-streamed series of all time The Man in the High Castle). Wurtzel pulled his Netflix viewership estimates from a survey conducted by tech firm SymphonyAM. The NBC exec claimed while Symphony’s findings were in beta,...
NBC’s President of Research and Media Development Alan Wurtzel recently revealed some ratings data on Netflix originals including Jessica Jones, Master of None, and Narcos (as well as Amazon’s most-streamed series of all time The Man in the High Castle). Wurtzel pulled his Netflix viewership estimates from a survey conducted by tech firm SymphonyAM. The NBC exec claimed while Symphony’s findings were in beta,...
- 1/19/2016
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
When numbers cruncher Alan Wurtzel, NBC Universal's president of research and media development, claimed to know how many people were tuning into several Netflix original series at the biannual Television Critics Association press tour last Wednesday, the network seemed to be throwing down the gauntlet. After all, if Wurtzel's numbers are accurate—and "Jessica Jones" (an average of 4.8 million viewers, aged 18-49, from September through December), "Master of None" (3.9 million), and "Narcos" (3.2 million) qualify only as solid, unspectacular hits by broadcast metrics—the bloom would be off the streaming service's rose. That the situation is vastly more complicated than this speaks to the medium's rapid transformation in recent years, evolving into an ecosystem in which the bon mots of network executives (FX's John Landgraf, "peak TV"; Showtime's David Nevins, "cord cobblers") are examined for glimpses of the...
- 1/18/2016
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos spent a little time Sunday morning ripping the supposed reveal of his streaming company’s secret and previously proprietary ratings data. NBC research guru Alan Wurtzel had shared some unimpressive apparent Netflix viewership figures on Wednesday, which were cobbled together by San Francisco measurement company Symphony Advanced Media — a cross-platform data analysis firm that essentially utilizes a user’s cell phone microphone to identity and track audio codes embedded in all TV programming. Sarandos doesn’t quite subscribe to that methodology, nor does he understand why NBC would even care to share. “There’s a couple of mysteries in.
- 1/17/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Whatever Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos planned to push during Sunday's meeting with the Television Critics Association was at least slightly derailed by the press tour's big story: the apparent outing of the streamer's "ratings". With Wednesday's loose assessment of who's watching a handful of Netflix originals, via a methodology that's already been brushed off by FX chief John Landgraf, NBC Universal research guru Alan Wurtzel still made headlines by citing audience projections for Jessica Jones, Master of None and Narcos. "Now we can talk about our ratings and why we don't talk about them," Sarandos told the
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- 1/17/2016
- by Michael O'Connell
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix is notoriously tight-lipped about their viewing numbers. But at a recent research presentation, NBC exec Alan Wurtzel revealed the viewing numbers for many popular streaming series like Marvel's Jessica Jones, Narcos, Master of None, and Amazon's The Man in the High Castle.
Much like how Nielsen ratings work, the streaming ratings were gathered from a sample of 15,000 users between the months of September and December 2015.
Read More…...
Much like how Nielsen ratings work, the streaming ratings were gathered from a sample of 15,000 users between the months of September and December 2015.
Read More…...
- 1/16/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
On Wednesday, NBC research guru Alan Wurtzel sat down to lunch with television critics and presumed to spill one of the biggest secrets in the entertainment industry: How many people actually watch Netflix. Immediately, the buzz on these never-before-seen numbers began, and it echoed beyond the halls, ballrooms and lobby of the Langham Huntington hotel, site of the Television Critics Association winter press tour. Wait, the critics collectively said: Where did you get these? The question is important because Netflix and Amazon have become a thorn in the side of TV networks that live and die by ratings. Both have snatched high-profile.
- 1/14/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Media reporters were recently granted a small window into the normally-secret world of Netflix and Amazon viewership statistics. At a presentation on January 13, 2016, NBC Universal’s President of Research and Media Development Alan Wurtzel revealed some estimated TV ratings for several Netflix original series, including Jessica Jones, as well as Amazon’s Man in the High Castle.
Wurtzel cited data taken by tech firm Symphony Advanced Media (SymphonyAM), which measures audience viewership and has previously released information on how millennials use DVR and Hulu to watch their favorite fall shows. SymphonyAm used audio recognition software installed on mobile phones to capture Netflix and Amazon original series’ soundtracks as they played. In this way, Symphony was able to track the viewership of about 15,000 mobile users from September to December 2015.
During these four months, Symphony found a single Jessica Jones episode averaged 4.8 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. The Aziz Ansari-starrer...
Wurtzel cited data taken by tech firm Symphony Advanced Media (SymphonyAM), which measures audience viewership and has previously released information on how millennials use DVR and Hulu to watch their favorite fall shows. SymphonyAm used audio recognition software installed on mobile phones to capture Netflix and Amazon original series’ soundtracks as they played. In this way, Symphony was able to track the viewership of about 15,000 mobile users from September to December 2015.
During these four months, Symphony found a single Jessica Jones episode averaged 4.8 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. The Aziz Ansari-starrer...
- 1/14/2016
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
When discussing the comparison of streaming platforms to network TV shows during NBC's portion of the Winter TCA press tour, NBC President of Research & Development Alan Wurtzel stated that the shift from traditional TV to streaming isn't happening as rapidly as some think. According to the data Wurtzel pulled, over the course of 35 days between last September and December only averaged 4.8 million people (per episode) in the key, 18-49 demographic, watched Marvel's Jessica Jones. "Compare these programs to shows like The Big Bang Theory, Empire or Blind Spot, and they pale in comparison. It’s not that people aren’t watching, but they (streaming) aren’t replacing broadcast." To add to Wurtzel's point, a show like Big Bang Theory garners 18 million viewers per episode in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Fox's Empire averages 17 million viewers. Even a freshman drama like Blind Spot earned roughly 13 million viewers an episode. Wurtzel stated that...
- 1/14/2016
- ComicBookMovie.com
One thing that has always made the various streaming services - from iTunes to Netflix to Hulu - different from both regular and cable networks is the lack of ratings data. The various companies all have them, but they don't go public with the information except in the rarest of circumstances.
At NBC's Television Critics Association winter press tour yesterday, that trend was bucked by NBC Universal's Alan Wurtzel who outed estimates of the viewership of several Netflix series over the last third of last year.
Data gathered from a sample of 15,000 users by San Francisco tech firm Symphony indicates that "Jessica Jones" was a big player with an average 4.8 million viewers in the adults 18-49 group watching an episode of the Marvel drama. Not far behind were "Master of None" with 3.9 million and "Narcos" with 3.2 million though with data for the first few days of the release of the...
At NBC's Television Critics Association winter press tour yesterday, that trend was bucked by NBC Universal's Alan Wurtzel who outed estimates of the viewership of several Netflix series over the last third of last year.
Data gathered from a sample of 15,000 users by San Francisco tech firm Symphony indicates that "Jessica Jones" was a big player with an average 4.8 million viewers in the adults 18-49 group watching an episode of the Marvel drama. Not far behind were "Master of None" with 3.9 million and "Narcos" with 3.2 million though with data for the first few days of the release of the...
- 1/14/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
TV exec research presentations tend to be a little dry, but NBC Universal's Alan Wurtzel bucked that trend on Wednesday — outing the viewership of several Netflix series to the delight of many reporters. Data gathered from a sample of 15,000 users, by San Francisco tech firm Symphony, paints Jessica Jones as an especially strong player for the streamer. Based on audio recognition data, covering the months of September, October, November and December, a slide showed that an average 4.8 million viewers in the adults 18-49 group watched an episode of the Marvel drama. (The demographic, it should
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- 1/13/2016
- by Michael O'Connell, Lesley Goldberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated,” said NBC President of Research & Development Alan Wurtzel borrowing a quote from Mark Twain. Wurtzel was specifically referring to notions that streaming VOD services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime were stealing viewers en bulk from broadcast TV. “The notion that the broadcast model is broken or dying — it really isn’t,” said Wurtzel during his TCA lunch session “Not So Fast…Reality Check of Current Media…...
- 1/13/2016
- Deadline TV
You better step your game up, Nielsen — because other TV ratings options are gunning for your gig. NBC Research President Alan Wurtzel endorsed three alternatives to Nielsen on Wednesday, as the industry’s leading audience-measurement company has been considered antiquated and slow to adapt for quite a while — but has remained the top dog thanks to no real competition. Wurtzel told critics and reporters in attendance to pay attention to the following options: Symphony Advanced Media, TiVo/Reality Mine and Rentrak/ComScore. Also Read: NBCUniversal Names Jason Zajac Evp of Strategy and Business Insights Wurtzel praised the first two Nielsen...
- 1/13/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
NBC announced that it had won the 52-week season for the first time in a decade on Tuesday. Simultaneously, the network said that it is doing away with the more traditional fall season and shifting to a full-year focus. The announcement was new, but the strategy has been in-house for a while. ”We've been thinking about doing this for some time,” Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development, NBC Universal told TheWrap. ”It just got to the point where everybody kind of said, ‘You know what? There just seems to be no reason not to do it and every reason to.
- 9/19/2014
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
New York (AP) — Slightly more than half of the people who watched the Sochi Olympics on NBC also used a computer, tablet or smartphone to get information about the games while the TV was on, the network said Wednesday. NBC closely studies how Americans follow the action partly because the Olympics are a huge investment, but also to get a peek at how media habits are changing. This year's takeaway: the multiscreen experience is rapidly taking hold and is doing so across all age groups. "It's not 25-year-olds who wear black and live in Williamsburg," said Alan Wurtzel, NBC's chief researcher. "This is America." NBC and its cable networks televised 541 hours of Sochi action and made all Olympic competition available online. The flood of material only increased the appetite; NBC said 49 percent of viewers said they watched more Olympics action simply because it was more available, and that number shot...
- 4/24/2014
- by David Bauder (AP)
- Hitfix
Steve Burke doesn’t want people, or advertisers, to pay attention to total viewer ratings because “we’re in the 18-to-49 business,” he told a press gathering today in the run-up to the upfront sales season. Indeed, if presented with a program that would attract a big total audience, but not would be weak in the target demo, “we wouldn’t pick that show up,” he says. That’s required a change in thinking at the NBC, where shows such as Today and Nightly News With Brian Williams often are promoted on the basis of the 25-54 demo. “They should at least know both” the younger and older demo numbers, Burke says. He acknowledges that older viewers can be attractive for advertisers, but “as long as people keep score that way, that’s how we’re going to broadcast.” The NBCUniversal exec renewed a familiar call for the industry to...
- 4/7/2014
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Financial Editor
- Deadline TV
NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus stands by the decision to edit Ioc president Thomas Bach’s Sochi Games Opening Ceremony speech, and said he was not surprised the Bob Costas pinkeye story had gone “viral” because Costas is a national Olympics institution. In a wide-ranging phone call with reporters today, Lazarus also said he was not worried the lackluster performance by U.S. athletes so far would translate to lower ratings, and dismissed suggestions NBC’s primetime tape delays would impact numbers, calling it an out-of-date notion. But he also said a focus on NBC’s primetime ratings, or even NBC’s ratings, was too narrow a way to look at Games’ performance for the company. Related: Olympics 5-Day Ratings Even With Vancouver 2010, Ahead Of Torino Lazarus and NBCUniversal research president Alan Wurtzel said that, as with the London Summer Games, they have discovered that extra digital content helps,...
- 2/12/2014
- by LISA DE MORAES, TV Columnist
- Deadline TV
Nielsen will now measure audiences who view TV content online with their new Nielsen Digital Program Ratings.
The pilot program includes A&E, ABC, AOL, CBS, The CW, Discovery, Fox, NBC and Univision. The test begins in May and will run through July.
“The pilot for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is a major milestone for the industry,” Eric Solomon, Svp for Global Digital Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a statement. “As a companion product to Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will enable clients to better understand the online audience for their programming by harnessing the same methodology Nielsen already uses to measure the audience for related advertising.”
Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will provide overnight audience data such as unique audience, stream counts and reach by age and gender for TV programming viewed online.
A commercial release for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is targeted for later in...
The pilot program includes A&E, ABC, AOL, CBS, The CW, Discovery, Fox, NBC and Univision. The test begins in May and will run through July.
“The pilot for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is a major milestone for the industry,” Eric Solomon, Svp for Global Digital Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a statement. “As a companion product to Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will enable clients to better understand the online audience for their programming by harnessing the same methodology Nielsen already uses to measure the audience for related advertising.”
Nielsen Digital Program Ratings will provide overnight audience data such as unique audience, stream counts and reach by age and gender for TV programming viewed online.
A commercial release for Nielsen Digital Program Ratings is targeted for later in...
- 4/30/2013
- by Chris Harnick
- Huffington Post
New York -- Every Tuesday, the Nielsen company publishes a popularity ranking of broadcast television programs that has served as the industry's report card dating back to when most people had only three networks to choose from.
And every week, that list gets less and less meaningful.
With DVRs, video on demand, game consoles and streaming services, tablets and smartphones, the way people watch television is changing and the industry is struggling to keep on top of it all. Even the idea of "watching television" is in flux. Are you "watching TV" when you stream an episode of "Downton Abbey" on a tablet?
Nielsen, which has long had a virtual monopoly on the audience statistics that drive a multi-billion dollar industry, last week took an important step toward accounting for some of the changes. Starting in September, Nielsen will begin measuring viewership through broadband devices like game consoles for the first time.
And every week, that list gets less and less meaningful.
With DVRs, video on demand, game consoles and streaming services, tablets and smartphones, the way people watch television is changing and the industry is struggling to keep on top of it all. Even the idea of "watching television" is in flux. Are you "watching TV" when you stream an episode of "Downton Abbey" on a tablet?
Nielsen, which has long had a virtual monopoly on the audience statistics that drive a multi-billion dollar industry, last week took an important step toward accounting for some of the changes. Starting in September, Nielsen will begin measuring viewership through broadband devices like game consoles for the first time.
- 2/25/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Joe Utichi contributes to Deadline’s UK coverage. Has The Hunger Games triggered Americans’ interest in archery? The bow-and-arrow sport is NBC’s No. 1 cable ratings winner, the network says, averaging 1.5M daytime viewers. NBC’s coverage of the London Olympics is breaking records and an upswing in interest in archery given the popularity of the film is serendipitous. “Maybe it’s the Hunger Games phenomenon”, NBC research exec Alan Wurtzel said. He likened its popularity to the surprise interest in curling events of the Vancouver winter games two years ago. “The numbers for archery have been nothing less than huge.” Bigger, even, than numbers for basketball but individual Team USA games in that sport still perform better. In The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen teaches herself archery so she can provide for her starved family. It’s not impossible to believe that there’s a good amount...
- 8/3/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus and NBC Research Group President Alan Wurtzel defended the network’s Summer Olympics coverage strategy during a conference call with reporters Thursday morning. Here’s the duo taking on several burning questions, including the network’s decision to tape-delay certain events.
– How have the Olympics performed so far? Actually quite great. Ratings are up 10 percent from the last Summer Games in Beijing. The coverage package might show a profit for NBC instead of another $200+ million loss like in Vancouver in 2010. Lazarus says NBC’s affiliates, advertisers, and partners are all happy (plus some viewers...
– How have the Olympics performed so far? Actually quite great. Ratings are up 10 percent from the last Summer Games in Beijing. The coverage package might show a profit for NBC instead of another $200+ million loss like in Vancouver in 2010. Lazarus says NBC’s affiliates, advertisers, and partners are all happy (plus some viewers...
- 8/2/2012
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
Yup, archery is firmly hot.
Ratings for Olympic coverage of the sport have surged on cable, says NBC Sports chief Mark Lazarus and NBC Research President Alan Wurtzel. And the executives have a suspicion why.
“Archery is the new curling,” Wurtzel said. “The numbers for archery have been nothing less than huge. Maybe it’s The Hunger Games phenomenon. We’re going to keep an eye on that.”
The executives told reporters on a conference call Thursday morning that archery coverage has rated higher than any other Summer Games sport on cable so far this year, averaging 1.5 million viewers and...
Ratings for Olympic coverage of the sport have surged on cable, says NBC Sports chief Mark Lazarus and NBC Research President Alan Wurtzel. And the executives have a suspicion why.
“Archery is the new curling,” Wurtzel said. “The numbers for archery have been nothing less than huge. Maybe it’s The Hunger Games phenomenon. We’re going to keep an eye on that.”
The executives told reporters on a conference call Thursday morning that archery coverage has rated higher than any other Summer Games sport on cable so far this year, averaging 1.5 million viewers and...
- 8/2/2012
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
NBC says they hear the criticism of their XXX Summer Olympics coverage. “Some of it is fair, and we are listening, said NBC Sport’s Mark Lazarus today. “We knew it wasn’t going to be perfect,” added the Group Chairman. Asked about NBC editing out the fall of Russia’s Ksenia Afanasyeva in Tuesday’s gymnastics event to create suspense for a U.S. team Gold win, Lazaus said it was cut “in the interests of time”. He added that “it was immaterial to the outcome” of the U.S. team’s Gold win. “All of the drama was about the Us performance, not what the Russians did or did not achieve, said Lazarus. “It did nothing to alter the suspense”. In a conference call from London, Lazarus and NBC Research’s Alan Wurtzel sought to address the criticism that the network has received for its tape delay of...
- 8/2/2012
- by DOMINIC PATTEN
- Deadline TV
New York – (February 13, 2012) Continuing its pioneering research efforts surrounding the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics known as “The Billion Dollar Lab,” NBCUniversal will conduct a third Olympics research initiative during the 2012 London Games. The company will work with Google and comScore for a series of innovative research projects that will explore new ways to measure single source consumption of video content on TV, mobile, the PC, and for the first time in this Olympics, the tablet. The initiative will combine Google’s unparalleled analytical and digital expertise with NBCUniversal’s extensive experience using the Olympics to explore consumer media behavior. NBCUniversal and comScore will also partner on a project to measure how different demographic groups use media to follow the Games. Alan Wurtzel, President, Research, NBCUniversal, said, “Since we first began the Olympics Billion Dollar Lab, non-linear video consumption has increased dramatically. Cross-platform measurement is extraordinarily challenging, but we believe the...
- 2/13/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
Getty Christina Aguilera of “The Voice”
NBC kicked off its presentation of next season’s TV-lineup for advertisers this morning singing the praises of reality TV.
The first half hour of its “upfront” was loaded with plugs and praise for “The Voice,” whose strong ratings performance since its spring debut seems to be jazzing up everyone at the network.
NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said he believes the show is “so strong that it can lift excitement” about the entire NBC,...
NBC kicked off its presentation of next season’s TV-lineup for advertisers this morning singing the praises of reality TV.
The first half hour of its “upfront” was loaded with plugs and praise for “The Voice,” whose strong ratings performance since its spring debut seems to be jazzing up everyone at the network.
NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said he believes the show is “so strong that it can lift excitement” about the entire NBC,...
- 5/16/2011
- by Jessica E. Vascellaro
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
For generations, a single standard has existed for measuring the vast home audience of couch potatoes and transacting television ads that today total $70 billion a year. But as millions of viewers peel away from their TVs and migrate among flat screen, online and mobile video, it's clear the simple Nielsen rating system is not going to be enough. Indeed, the quest for a “single-source” rating -- media’s “Holy Grail,” as NBC Universal's president of research and media development Alan Wurtzel calls it -- is swiftly gaining steam, including a major industry initiative jointly announced...
- 3/1/2011
- by Johnnie L. Roberts
- The Wrap
"Dollhouse" fans can breathe easier: Fox will air all 13 episodes.
On the heels of impressive DVR data for the "Dollhouse" premiere, network execs said they will run each produced hour of the show's current order despite the Friday drama's modest overall ratings.
"We're going to run all the episodes," Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman said. "We're not saying we're happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don't have to overreact."
Premiere-week DVR data released Monday showed that the second-season "Dollhouse" debut climbed 50% from its very modest base of a 1.0 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. Beckman said DVR results have played a role in the show's fate, though he wasn't surprised by the new numbers.
"It's one of the reasons that we brought 'Dollhouse' back; we knew it was DVR-friendly," Beckman said. "Hopefully we'll see the overnight ratings increase from week to week. With some shows,...
On the heels of impressive DVR data for the "Dollhouse" premiere, network execs said they will run each produced hour of the show's current order despite the Friday drama's modest overall ratings.
"We're going to run all the episodes," Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman said. "We're not saying we're happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don't have to overreact."
Premiere-week DVR data released Monday showed that the second-season "Dollhouse" debut climbed 50% from its very modest base of a 1.0 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. Beckman said DVR results have played a role in the show's fate, though he wasn't surprised by the new numbers.
"It's one of the reasons that we brought 'Dollhouse' back; we knew it was DVR-friendly," Beckman said. "Hopefully we'll see the overnight ratings increase from week to week. With some shows,...
- 10/12/2009
- by By James Hibberd
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York -- In an attempt to measure consumption of what at 3,600 hours will be the largest amount of Olympics coverage in history, NBC Universal is pulling out all the stops.
The company, which has more than $1 billion in ad revenue riding on the Beijing Games, will announce Monday the closely guarded specifics of its 17 days of Olympics coverage. Not only will it easily dwarf the 171 hours available 12 years ago on NBC, the coverage will extend to near-constant coverage on NBC, Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, Cnbc and Bravo, plus 2,200 hours of online streaming video and content available on Vod and mobile platforms.
It will be, in a word, overwhelming.
"There is no event that can match this from a research perspective," NBC Uni research chief Alan Wurtzel said. "Every single platform will be used in a way they've never been used before. Even platforms that are small right now, like wireless, will have maximal use."
Wurtzel's team wants to figure out how many people are consuming Olympic content in ways besides traditional TV. NBC Uni will contract with Nielsen Media Research for a host of daily metrics, the viewership and demo data that the industry is used to. But it's adapting a tool it developed for other uses -- called Total Audience Measurement Index, or TAMi -- to help understand the big picture.
NBC is planning to turn around -- with the help of key research partners -- daily data on who's watching on TV; unique users; page views; video streams online and mobile; and Vod metrics.
Also key to the process is a daily survey of 500 people -- a total of 8,500 throughout the Games -- to uncover out-of-home consumption and individual media habits. Plus, a single-source panel of 40-50 people will wear a passive measurement device owned by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. to track, in essence, their exposure to the Olympics. And NBC will ask two focus groups about the platforms.
The online survey will give self-reported data to NBC, which will be of use in projections. But the smaller panel working with Immi will allow researchers to dig much deeper, providing data through the passive devices that will pick up Olympics content on TV, the Web and mobile. The recruited subjects are people deeply interested in the Games.
"We will be able to take these people over 17 days and follow what they do, in home, out of home, on television, on the Internet and on wireless," Wurtzel said. "If this works, I think it has profound impact on how we measure all media going forward."
The Immi technology was used for a research project surrounding NBC's series "Heroes," tracking whether participants were exposed to special preview footage of a movie during the show and whether they saw the film during its opening weekend.
The final effort likely will convene in New York and Cleveland and combine user diaries, in-depth interviews and focus groups. These people have agreed to be contacted regularly during the Olympics.
Meanwhile, NBC hasn't shied away from determining viewers' attitudes and awareness in the months leading to the Aug. 8 opening. Execs were especially interested in trying to find out whether the news coverage of the protests in Tibet and around the world surrounding the Olympic torch would affect U.S. viewers. Wurtzel said that about 90% of respondents to an online survey said those developments would not have an impact.
There was also a weekly awareness study. Wurtzel said about 75%-80% of those surveyed intend to watch at least some of the Games. "It's totally tracking with previous Olympics," he said. "The intent to view is actually a little higher than some previous Olympics."...
The company, which has more than $1 billion in ad revenue riding on the Beijing Games, will announce Monday the closely guarded specifics of its 17 days of Olympics coverage. Not only will it easily dwarf the 171 hours available 12 years ago on NBC, the coverage will extend to near-constant coverage on NBC, Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, Cnbc and Bravo, plus 2,200 hours of online streaming video and content available on Vod and mobile platforms.
It will be, in a word, overwhelming.
"There is no event that can match this from a research perspective," NBC Uni research chief Alan Wurtzel said. "Every single platform will be used in a way they've never been used before. Even platforms that are small right now, like wireless, will have maximal use."
Wurtzel's team wants to figure out how many people are consuming Olympic content in ways besides traditional TV. NBC Uni will contract with Nielsen Media Research for a host of daily metrics, the viewership and demo data that the industry is used to. But it's adapting a tool it developed for other uses -- called Total Audience Measurement Index, or TAMi -- to help understand the big picture.
NBC is planning to turn around -- with the help of key research partners -- daily data on who's watching on TV; unique users; page views; video streams online and mobile; and Vod metrics.
Also key to the process is a daily survey of 500 people -- a total of 8,500 throughout the Games -- to uncover out-of-home consumption and individual media habits. Plus, a single-source panel of 40-50 people will wear a passive measurement device owned by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. to track, in essence, their exposure to the Olympics. And NBC will ask two focus groups about the platforms.
The online survey will give self-reported data to NBC, which will be of use in projections. But the smaller panel working with Immi will allow researchers to dig much deeper, providing data through the passive devices that will pick up Olympics content on TV, the Web and mobile. The recruited subjects are people deeply interested in the Games.
"We will be able to take these people over 17 days and follow what they do, in home, out of home, on television, on the Internet and on wireless," Wurtzel said. "If this works, I think it has profound impact on how we measure all media going forward."
The Immi technology was used for a research project surrounding NBC's series "Heroes," tracking whether participants were exposed to special preview footage of a movie during the show and whether they saw the film during its opening weekend.
The final effort likely will convene in New York and Cleveland and combine user diaries, in-depth interviews and focus groups. These people have agreed to be contacted regularly during the Olympics.
Meanwhile, NBC hasn't shied away from determining viewers' attitudes and awareness in the months leading to the Aug. 8 opening. Execs were especially interested in trying to find out whether the news coverage of the protests in Tibet and around the world surrounding the Olympic torch would affect U.S. viewers. Wurtzel said that about 90% of respondents to an online survey said those developments would not have an impact.
There was also a weekly awareness study. Wurtzel said about 75%-80% of those surveyed intend to watch at least some of the Games. "It's totally tracking with previous Olympics," he said. "The intent to view is actually a little higher than some previous Olympics."...
- 7/7/2008
- by By Paul J. Gough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
2006-07 SEASON WRAP
Overview: Patterns, measurements define season
Ratings rerun: Fox, CBS on top
Thursday, Monday are battlegrounds
Chart: Final series ranks
Network news makes headlines
NEW YORK -- It has been a wild and in some cases wacky season for network TV, culminating in a hunt for millions of missing viewers that is so complicated that it's worthy of its own episode of "CSI".
On the surface, it is status quo -- CBS extended its winning streak in total viewers to five years, while "American Idol"-powered Fox bagged a third consecutive season victory among adults 18-49.
But underneath, a sea change has been brewing.
"I think we'll look back and see 2007 as the watershed when all the things we talked about -- viewing behavior and audience measurement of that behavior -- all came together to start the new era," NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel said. "We've talked a lot about change and everything, but this is the first year we've seen it in a profound way."
At the beginning of the season, Nielsen Media Research introduced "most current" ratings, cuming the audiences that watch a show live as well as those that record it on a DVR and watch it up to seven days later.
But even with those additional viewers counted this season, primetime television viewing dropped significantly compared with last season.
The steepest decline was in live viewership, which fell 10% year-over-year among the four major broadcast networks. Adding in DVR viewership, which can boost shows' ratings by as much as 25% or more, the Big Four were still down 5%.
Things turned for the worse in the spring when many of TV's best and brightest fell to season or even series lows. That list includes "Desperate Housewives", "Lost", "Grey's Anatomy", "CSI: Miami" and "ER," among others. Even "Idol" wasn't immune though it hasn't seen a year-over-year decline.
The reasons seem myriad. Explanations include poor comparisons with the Winter Olympics, which boosted viewership levels last year, the lack of stunt counter-programming, a three weeks' earlier start to daylight-saving time, an abnormally high amount of repeats in February and March and a shift in viewing behavior brought on by the DVR, streaming video and the growing number of ways network TV is consumed these days.
"It's never one thing", said Fox scheduling czar Preston Beckman, who acknowledged that the early start to daylight-saving time and the increase in DVR penetration has changed the game.
He thinks that the networks also have learned the hard way that viewers are annoyed by their favorite shows going on hiatus or repeating.
Overview: Patterns, measurements define season
Ratings rerun: Fox, CBS on top
Thursday, Monday are battlegrounds
Chart: Final series ranks
Network news makes headlines
NEW YORK -- It has been a wild and in some cases wacky season for network TV, culminating in a hunt for millions of missing viewers that is so complicated that it's worthy of its own episode of "CSI".
On the surface, it is status quo -- CBS extended its winning streak in total viewers to five years, while "American Idol"-powered Fox bagged a third consecutive season victory among adults 18-49.
But underneath, a sea change has been brewing.
"I think we'll look back and see 2007 as the watershed when all the things we talked about -- viewing behavior and audience measurement of that behavior -- all came together to start the new era," NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel said. "We've talked a lot about change and everything, but this is the first year we've seen it in a profound way."
At the beginning of the season, Nielsen Media Research introduced "most current" ratings, cuming the audiences that watch a show live as well as those that record it on a DVR and watch it up to seven days later.
But even with those additional viewers counted this season, primetime television viewing dropped significantly compared with last season.
The steepest decline was in live viewership, which fell 10% year-over-year among the four major broadcast networks. Adding in DVR viewership, which can boost shows' ratings by as much as 25% or more, the Big Four were still down 5%.
Things turned for the worse in the spring when many of TV's best and brightest fell to season or even series lows. That list includes "Desperate Housewives", "Lost", "Grey's Anatomy", "CSI: Miami" and "ER," among others. Even "Idol" wasn't immune though it hasn't seen a year-over-year decline.
The reasons seem myriad. Explanations include poor comparisons with the Winter Olympics, which boosted viewership levels last year, the lack of stunt counter-programming, a three weeks' earlier start to daylight-saving time, an abnormally high amount of repeats in February and March and a shift in viewing behavior brought on by the DVR, streaming video and the growing number of ways network TV is consumed these days.
"It's never one thing", said Fox scheduling czar Preston Beckman, who acknowledged that the early start to daylight-saving time and the increase in DVR penetration has changed the game.
He thinks that the networks also have learned the hard way that viewers are annoyed by their favorite shows going on hiatus or repeating.
- 5/25/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- NBC is testing hearts and minds in its quest to track the habits of today's elusive media consumer.
The network last week received the results of its first dip into the world of neurophysiology -- examining brain waves, galvanic skin response and eye movement of TV viewers. NBC used an episode of Heroes to find out what viewers comprehend of ads when they fast-forward past them on DVRs.
NBC Uni research chief Alan Wurtzel said that the preliminary findings, which the network and research company are still sifting through, confirm previous research from multiple sources including Nielsen Media Research and Millward Brown that said viewers remain involved even though they're fast-forwarding.
"There is some engagement, some comprehension going on," Wurtzel said. "It's not as though they are a blank slate."
Testing was conducted on 20-25 volunteers by Innerscope Research, a Massachusetts-based firm co-founded by Carl Marci of Harvard Medical School. Innerscope uses a biomonitoring system of wearable but unobtrusive sensors -- Wurtzel called them a sort of jacket -- that measure brain activity.
The network last week received the results of its first dip into the world of neurophysiology -- examining brain waves, galvanic skin response and eye movement of TV viewers. NBC used an episode of Heroes to find out what viewers comprehend of ads when they fast-forward past them on DVRs.
NBC Uni research chief Alan Wurtzel said that the preliminary findings, which the network and research company are still sifting through, confirm previous research from multiple sources including Nielsen Media Research and Millward Brown that said viewers remain involved even though they're fast-forwarding.
"There is some engagement, some comprehension going on," Wurtzel said. "It's not as though they are a blank slate."
Testing was conducted on 20-25 volunteers by Innerscope Research, a Massachusetts-based firm co-founded by Carl Marci of Harvard Medical School. Innerscope uses a biomonitoring system of wearable but unobtrusive sensors -- Wurtzel called them a sort of jacket -- that measure brain activity.
- 3/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- After a major media buyer said that it wouldn't take into account digital video recorder usage in its negotiations next year, the broadcast networks are fighting back with a nearly unprecedented joint news conference. Two network research bigwigs -- CBS' David Poltrack and NBC's Alan Wurtzel -- will present data on DVR usage and ratings measurement at a news conference this morning at NBC Universal's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
- 11/15/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- NBC on Thursday reversed its nearly decadelong policy about rating its TV shows, announcing that it will add content descriptors to the age-based ratings system it has used since the inception of the V-chip. The ratings system was developed in 1997 in response to the V-chip section of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, but NBC refused to run the descriptors -- V for violence, S for sexual content, L for vulgar language, D for suggestive dialogue and FV for fantasy violence -- because of First Amendment concerns and the fear that the onscreen clutter would confuse viewers. In a statement, NBC Universal chairman and CEO Bob Wright said the change was made to serve the network's viewers. "We serve our viewers best by ensuring that they are fully informed about the content of our programs," he said. "We particularly want to provide information to parents so that they can judge the appropriateness of programming for their children," he said. "These changes provide our network and cable viewers with more frequent and more detailed information about our programs. By enhancing the visibility of content ratings, and raising awareness of the V-chip, we believe parents have the tools they need to make informed decisions." While that is his position now, it wasn't in 1997, when he told Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that the content descriptors confused people. "At this juncture, we feel additional labels merely add to parents' confusion," Wright said in October 1997. "While the ratings system we have adopted is somewhat different than the system you have endorsed, NBC has embraced your goal of providing parents with additional information." Also in October 1997, Wright expressed free-speech concerns arguing that the content descriptors would lead to abuse by would-be censors. In a letter to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who wrote the V-chip language, Wright told the lawmaker that he was concerned that the new system will have a "chilling effect on what programs are produced for over-the-air television and (will be a target) for misuses by interest groups and politicians whose goal is censorship rather than providing information to parents." Those concerns also seem to have evaporated. NBC executives say Wright's original concerns abated as the V-chip and the ratings system that accompanies it have become more familiar. "There was a fear on our part that the descriptors could be used to label or vilify programs," NBC executive vp and general counsel Rick Cotton said. "That abuse has not materialized." Cotton and other executives said the network also wanted to be consistent with its cable siblings and the rest of the industry. On Wednesday, the cable industry rolled out a revamped version of the onscreen icon enlarging it by 70% and pledging to run it more often. NBC and Telemundo will carry the industry standard parental-ratings icon at the start of every entertainment program and following each commercial break like the cable networks agreed to do Wednesday. The goal of the network and cable enhancements is to better equip NBC's viewing audience with information about program content that they then can use to make informed decisions about television viewing for themselves and for their families, the network said in a statement. "As a broadcaster we are committed to ensuring that all programs that air on our networks meet our standards and that we appropriately set content expectations with viewers and minimize surprises for parents," said Alan Wurtzel, NBC Universal standards and practices president. "By increasing the number of times we show the content ratings, we are empowering the audience to make appropriate viewing decisions."...
- 4/29/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ken Samuel has been named head of program standards at NBC. Samuel succeeds Ted Cordes, a 35-year peacock veteran who most recently was vp program standards. Cordes joined NBC's program standards department in 1970 as an administrator. During his long run at the network, Cordes helped establish Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show and had a close working relationship with Johnny Carson. Samuel, who has been with NBC since 1995, will report to NBC research and development president Alan Wurtzel in his new role as vp program standards.
- 12/17/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The good news is that young men are not deserting primetime television -- that was the consensus from network research executives on the results of a Nielsen study examining the sharp decline in viewership among men 18-34. Nielsen concluded in a study released late Monday that about 40% of the overall decline in viewership among men 18-34 so far this season can be attributed to changes in its methodology for collecting ratings data and adjustments to its "Nielsen family" samples to better reflect the demographic breakdown of the national population. Nielsen's numbers show a drop-off of 7.7% among men 18-34 in primetime this season compared with the same period last season. That raised red flags early on this season among network brass because viewing patterns in television generally move at a "glacial" pace, according to NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel.
- 11/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The skirmish between the networks and Nielsen Media Research flared anew Monday as NBC charged that large declines among young viewers this season are partly attributable to changes in Nielsen's statistical sample. NBC research chief Alan Wurtzel told the ratings provider that adding more Hispanic males ages 18-34 to the research firm's sample of 5,100 TV homes has led to misleading year-to-year comparisons, sources said. Wurtzel argued that while adding young Hispanics made the sample more representative of the U.S. population, these new viewers were not watching television as much as counterparts in other demographic groups. Consequently, the ratings this season make it appear that viewing among young people has fallen off dramatically, when in fact the drop may be caused simply by a change in the way information is gathered. NBC, which based its conclusions on numbers it received Monday afternoon, also complained that Nielsen was too slow in providing data for the network to review. Wurtzel could not be reached for comment.
- 11/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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