What Does Time Warner Know About Nielsen Ratings That We Don't?

Less than a week after major media players (finally) declared mutiny against Nielsen Media's estimated TV ratings, Time Warner has signed a new seven-year agreement with Nielsen for cross-platform and device measurement.

Time Warner also belongs to the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, which is exploring ways to use TV set-top boxes from cable and satellite companies and other new tools to measure consumer media use via TV and online and mobile devices.

The fact is, Time Warner and its peers -- including General Electric's NBC Universal, Walt Disney, Viacom, CBS and News Corp. -- have no choice but to keep doing business with Nielsen while proactively seeking a better alternative.

We've been down this road before. The real issue is how much effort media and advertising companies will make toward creating more accountable measurement.

Diane Mermigas

Diane Mermigas has been a contributing editor and columnist at Mediapost, The Hollywood Reporter and Crain Communications as well as writing for such sites as Seeking Alpha, TrueSlant and BNET. In addition to speaking and television appearances, Diane consults with companies in digital transition, and is completing a book on the future of media.

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