Time Warner, Viacom Back Away from Nielsen Ratings

Variety: Time Warner and Viacom are in talks with select advertisers that would have the sponsors pay for video ads based on measures very different from the current industry standard: Nielsen ratings. The deals would center not on an average of how many people actually saw the commercials —  as is the current practice — but rather on how the ads affect consumer behavior or how often consumers interact with the pitches. The new efforts show how TV, still considered big-audience media, is trying to get smaller by mirroring digital media’s ability to isolate narrower consumer niches.