USA: Comcast Rx Helps Nielsen Swallow Tablets

After long wait, mobile viewing to be added to C3 and C7 ratings

Comcast has helped Nielsen get over a major hurdle on the road to TV Everywhere by developing a way to measure viewing on iPads.

Nielsen plans to tell customers on March 25 it hopes to include iPads in its TV panels by the end of the year and begin incorporating mobile viewing into the C3 and C7 ratings used to buy and sell advertising.

Measuring how much viewing is happening on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices is needed for programmers to monetize content at a time when traditional TV ratings appear to be slipping because of time-shifting and other digital disruptions to the traditional couch-potato experience. Last month, Nielsen added homes where TV sets are connected to the Internet to its ratings universe.

A key part of the elusive solution to adding tablet viewing was developed by engineers at Comcast-a big supporter of TV Everywhere as a way to combat cord-cutting-working closely with Nielsen.