Now That We Know 92% Stay Through All Our Commercial Breaks..

I can't WAIT to see how TV does on that score! (smile)

Nielsen Media Research is getting set to deliver its first-ever ratings of commercials, and some companies representing cable networks are balking at accepting them. Nielsen had been planning to release the data for the first time on Nov. 18, but has pushed that target date back to Dec. 11.

For years, Nielsen's clients had been content to receive ratings information on individual shows, which didn't break out specifically who was watching during the commercials.

There's been more of a clamor to break out commercials specifically, because digital video recorders are now giving viewers a chance to fast-forward through the ads and because the growing use of Internet advertising gives clients more of a choice in which to run commercials.

Currently, networks don't take into account DVR usage in setting ad prices. But the new commercial rating system will include measurements of DVR homes. Some cable networks believe that DVR owners are more likely to record broadcast programming than, for instance, news or sports on cable and that the new numbers will make broadcast commercial time appear more valuable than that on cable networks.