DirecTV and TNS Media Research said they are developing an audience measurement service based on a panel of 100,000 DirecTV subscribers.
TNS DirecTView, to be introduced this year, will measure total viewing on a second-by-second basis, including live viewing and time-shifting using digital video recorders.
Nielsen’s current ratings data is based on minute-by-minute intervals.
At the same time, CBS said it also will be looking at DVR viewer behavior on second-by-second basis through a new deal with TiVo.
“As more and more television viewers add the DVR to their home entertainment systems and make the transition from linear to nonlinear viewers, we at the networks must adapt to serve both these newly empowered viewers and the advertisers seeking to communicate with them,” said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS.
“TiVo … offers us the opportunity to analyze television viewing behavior and develop strategies to maximize the impact of our advertisers’ messages and product placement arrangements in this new nonlinear viewing environment,” he added.
TNS has been looking at audience data from Charter Communications subscribers’ set-top boxes in the Los Angeles market since 2006.