NBC had to follow suit after CBS and ABC, under pressure from
advertisers, moved the breaks in the late night shows forward.
http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003657923
Carat Endorses 'C3' as Media Currency
NEW YORK Media agency Carat has issued an official position paper
defining why it endorses Average Commercial Minute ratings per show,
including up to three days of DVR viewing, also known as "C3."
Written by Shari Anne Brill, svp, director of programming at Carat,
the paper states that while C3 may ultimately not be the best currency
for negotiating TV ad buys down the road, it is currently the best
option available.
Noting that Nielsen’s commercial minute ratings are not pure minute
ratings because the company’s system does not measure second by second
(and some seconds of program ratings are mixed in), Brill writes that
it is "an im****tant step towards providing greater accountability for
our clients."
The C3 metric, Brill said, "gives the TV networks credit for live and
time-****fted viewing behavior up to three days later, provided viewers
stay tuned through the minutes that contain the ads. It offers a
better read of potential commercial exposure because it accounts for
fast-forwarding as well as channel-switching behavior. It also helps
to shed light on commercial formatting issues."
Brill said the commercial minute ratings "hold the networks
accountable for prior malfeasance in formatting commercials,
particularly outside of network prime time."
Singling out CBS and the Late Show With David Letterman and ABC and
Jimmy Kimmel Live, Brill said each was guilty of commercial placement
"transgressions" that hindered optimum viewer watching of the ads.
Commercial breaks in Letterman, she said, were jammed into the
lower-rated second half of the show, while Kimmel contained a
non-program break in its second half that was eight to nine minutes
long.
Once C3 was adopted as the negotiating currency for buying commercial
time on all network shows, CBS reformatted Letterman commercial breaks
to move spots earlier in the program, while ABC changed the lengthy,
continuous commercial break so late in the Kimmel show.
Brill said that while the actual impact of C3 would not be known until
Nielsen Media Research releases the commercial ratings data beginning
the week of Oct. 15, "our upfront negotiations resulted in many
networks absorbing some or most of the cost-per-thousand gap between
the live program rating and the C3 metric."
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