TNS, DirecTV Partner on New Audience-Measurement Venture

TNS DirecTView to Measure Second-by-Second Viewing, Live and Time-Shifted, of Programming, Commercials

By B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/31/2008 12:46:00 PM

Market-research firm TNS Media Intelligence is looking to take a bite out of ratings monolith Nielsen Media Research. In a partnership with satellite-TV operator DirecTV, TNS Media Research, TNS’ audience-measurement division, is developing the nation’s largest audience sample.

Dubbed TNS DirecTView, the sample will use 100,000 DirecTV subscribers to measure second-by-second viewing, both live and time-shifted via digital-video recorder, of programming and commercials.

Thursday’s announcement comes more than one year after TNS began working with DirecTV to measure subscribers’ use of interactive features.

“Over the past 18 months, DirecTV and TNS have built a solid partnership, and today, we are providing in-depth analyses and reporting services in support of their advanced programming and advertising platform,” TNS Media Research chief operating officer George Shababb said in a statement. “Looking ahead, we are excited to be building on our excellent relationship with DirecTV and creating a platform to take audience measurement to the next level in the United States.”