The system has been created by Nielsen Media Research and will deliver formal ratings for commercial breaks, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. It is set to appear on November 18, and could be used as the currency media buyers use in the next upfront season, in May 2007.
At the moment, ratings are for the television programmes and do not take into account people leaving the room to make a cup of tea during the ad breaks. It is these figures that are used to determine the cost of airtime for advertisers.
News of the system has lead to fears among media owners that advertisers may discover that fewer people than they expect are watching their offerings.
The WSJ reports that Nielsen's data is expected to show that audiences fall by between 5% and 10% during ad breaks. It is also believed that the new system may hit US cable systems, which tend to have more ad breaks and carry more ads.
Inevitably, this has lead to questions about the reliability of Nielsen's figures and whether or not they will prove a better system for negotiating ad rates than going on programme ratings.
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