Two new developments in the commercial ratings discussion:
- CBS has announced that if Nielsen does not release commercial ratings numbers for cable stations, a position the cable industry is in favor or, it will do so itself. Cable providers have numerous problems with the idea of commercial ratings as it has been presented, including the fact that it doesn't measure all minutes and that it's based on an already problematic system of Nielsen's.
- Some interesting analysis (thanks for the heads-up, Erica) regarding commercial viewing within syndicated programming. The long and short of it is that a lot of people watch syndicated shows and most do so live. So you have the possibility that people are actually watching the ads but, based on the claims of the cable industry, those commercials aren't likely to be counted in the ratings numbers.
I think I just made my head explode.
