The issue of how to create ratings for the new ways that the audience is consuming what we used to view just on TV is a big one. This article from the NY Times Magazine is a good report on the current state of tracking and what may be happening in our future!
The Mismeasure of TVOne of the great contradictions of modern American life is that almost everyone watches television while almost no one agrees anymore about what it really means to watch television. True, we know that as spring gets under way, new episodes of ''Desperate Housewives'' and ''C.S.I.'' and ''American Idol'' will battle for prime-time supremacy in the overnight Nielsen ratings. We also know that local broadcast stations around the country will begin scheming -- just as they do every April -- to win the May sweeps, the tense weeks when rival stations pursue a fierce one-upmanship of flamboyance and hype and the Nielsen-measured audience sizes determine future advertising rates. But when it comes to figuring out how many of us are watching these shows, and whether we're paying attention while we're watching and even whether we're actually noticing the advertisements among the shows we may or may not be watching -- well, this is where things get tricky.
Link: The New York Times > Magazine > Our Ratings, Ourselves.
Link: Arbitron’s Portable People Meter - Engadget - www.engadget.com..
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