The Nielsen Company launched its new VOD measurement service yesterday, which it calls NORA (Nielsen On-Demand Reporting & Analytics), and said that Comcast has signed on as the service’s first customer.
NORA is a new measurement service that aggregates and anonymously reports on video-on-demand (VOD) usage based on real-time transactions collected at the set-top box (STB) level.
Part of the Nielsen DigitalPlus service, the Web-based tool will also provide integrated data sets from other measurement services from across Nielsen, including Nielsen EDI and Nielsen VideoScan. The NORA offering also complements Nielsen’s existing panel-based National People Meter VOD Audience Measurement service.
At launch, Comcast will be providing VOD data for the NORA service, covering Jan. 1, 2007, to the present. Comcast will start using the NORA service immediately to analyze trends in VOD usage based on a number of factors, including programmer, program distributor and program category – if the program is available at no extra charge, is part of a premium service or is a title customers pay for individually – and the box-office revenue.
“On demand usage is skyrocketing with more than 275 million programs viewed monthly on Comcast alone,” said Derek Harrar, SVP and GM of video products for Comcast. “Our work with Nielsen will help us better understand what our customers like to watch, which is an important part of our commitment to providing the best viewing experience possible.”
By providing STB-level data on actual VOD selections, NORA will enable Nielsen clients to interpret VOD viewing trends, as well as analyze the impact of VOD usage. Nielsen is also developing the integration of additional data sets into NORA, such as those from Nielsen Media Research, Claritas, ACNielsen Homescan and Nielsen Online.
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