Nielsen: All-in-One Ratings

"Nielsen Online plans to introduce an all-in-one ratings system in 2008 that will measure viewership across television and the Internet. The ratings giant also intends to loop in measurement data across mobile viewing on cell phones and interaction with consumer-generated video.

Many advertising executives doubt Nielsen can pull off such an ambitious plan, and even if such sweeping data will be useful.

But Nielsen has already taken the first steps toward monitoring viewing habits across phones, TV and the computer.

“Our plan is to track video across all the different platforms,” said Manish Bhatia, president of global services and U.S. sales for Nielsen Online. “That is a big piece of the evolution of the Internet itself. We want to link mobile, TV and online.”
Nielsen plans to create a single-source panel for TV and online viewing by next summer to measure overall TV viewership for commercial ratings and for programs across both platforms, Mr. Bhatia said."

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"News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said Tuesday he intends to make access to The Wall Street Journal's Web site free, trading subscription fees for anticipated ad revenue.

"We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having one million (subscribers), having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth," Murdoch said."

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"Veronica Mars came to a cruel fate. It was a great show, had a fan following, and received critics’ praises. Usually, that is a recipe for a long-running series, or so you would think. Not so much for Veronica Mars, which was canceled after only three seasons. Now people are hoping for something like Firefly/Serenity with a feature film version, or perhaps a made-for-TV movie and some comics."