Olympic Headcounting

For the Beijing Olympics, NBC Universal is launching a new way to measure viewership across different media, encompassing legacy traditional TV, video-on-demand, cell phones and the web.

NBC's new system, to be offered to advertisers at the start of the fall TV season, should provide a more encompassing headcount for media buyers and give the company leverage to sell ads on newer media like VOD and cell phone video. It's a big deal since both audience and dollars are moving away from the traditional 30-second ad spot on broadcast television.

Executives at NBC aren't happy with current measurements available to track viewing across different outlets and need better tools beyond what Nielsen currently offers. NBC will offer TAMI--"Total Audience Measurement Index"--to summarize viewership across broadcast, websites, cable, VOD services, and mobile. The new scheme will be used for research purposes during the Beijing Games but could become a part of ad deals for the upcoming Winter Games in Vancouver.

NBC expects to bring in more than $1 billion in ad dollars for the Beijing Games after shelling out $894 million for the broadcast rights to the 17-day event.

For more:
- Wall Street Journal's reporting on NBC Olympic headcounting

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