NBC Shows Content Usage Across Platforms

Using TAMI, or the Total Audience Measure Index, to count usage across platforms, NBC affirms that TV maintains a clear superiority in usage. It makes you scratch your head why the Writers Guild and SAG have fought so forcefully for its share, when its share is still a blimp. Makes you wonder why there was a strike last year at all. They truly were fighting over pennies. It demonstrates that a short term agreement would not have hurt their long term viability.

And while the information is valuable to ad monetization, it may not paint a completely true picture. Still, it is a terrific means to compare the platforms and get an aggregate understanding of how content performs. I also think that DVR usage should be measured and can only assume that it is being included inside Television. But is the information accurate and does it measure real usage. It is argued that it does not represent engagement-based measurement and that across platforms, usage measurement is not apples to apples.

But, it is a first step and represents a small leap in recognizing that content, no matter where it is viewed, has an impact on ad monetization. NewTeeVee makes an interesting point, "... because the data isn’t engagement-based focusing on total minutes, either for television or the streaming data, it’s mostly useless, but for including the download numbers we thank NBC profusely! The bottom line is, TV is still king, though streaming is growing. But, unless and until they provide minutes of streaming, it will be difficult to get a true idea of what portion of viewing of shows happens via sanctioned streaming channels." It does say that content is being viewed in many ways, across mobile, VOD, streaming, and download. Viewing patterns are changing and good content gets consumed many times over.