Are you really watching

It is interesting to see again the key advertisers and media agencies from WPP and Publics are challenging not only the monopoly that Nielsen has on providing data and informationon who, what and for how long we are listening and watching content, but also the accuracy and the methods they use.
marketing technology
From an online perspective it is interesting Nielsen's still pursues the ' user active ' model for measurement (measuring activity and clicks within the window).

Many more applications and online tools are either passive (in the case of music streaming sites and TV) or open secondary windows in which the users are engaged with content, tools and application however not in the ' host site ' - however Nielsen's chooses discount the time spent after 30 minutes, which will in these circumstances result in under estimation of consumer exposure.

second life - online time down over 40%?

A recent example of the content owner and Nielsen data being at odds with each other was the recent dramatic reported fall in Second Life online time from high’s of 22 hours down to 9 – a fall that the Linden Labs contradicts pointing to a rise of just over 7% , from 35.5 hours per month to 38.6 hours per month.

So who is right?

Linden being the source would have a deeper insight ( albeit it possibly biased ) than a 3rd party organisation such as Nielsen as to their users activity. This combined with the very fact the advertisers are willing to drive there need directly for more analytical and representational data (above), goes to prove that these advertisers want to know how big a bang they are getting for their buck, but Nielsen must find a middle ground that there clients and trade bodies is happy with.

sources
Technology in Marketing
The Register