My Nielsen Diaries

From Thursday January 31 through Wednesday February 6, my household took part in the Nielsen ratings.

We had a diary for each TV in our home.

While it was nice to have our viewing habits noted, our likes and dislikes, filling out the diaries was a royal pain.

I can't imagine agreeing to take part in a study like this one:

Study to Track All-Day Media Usage

What better way to track people's video consumption than to have someone follow them around all day -- literally from the time they wake up until they retire at night -- making detailed notes about when and how they watch, listen, surf, read, play video games, download, text and talk on the phone?

That's exactly how a new $3.5 million study--funded by the Nielsen Co.--will track the media usage habits of a panel of some 450 consumers in separate phases throughout this year beginning next month.

...A panel of 350 consumers across five markets--Philadelphia, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago--will be monitored for a full day in the spring and fall of this year by trackers who will record (via electronic handheld note-taking devices) the use of 17 different media as the people use them alone and in multiple combinations. A separate panel of 100 users will also be tracked in the spring and fall. Before the second phase, that panel will have the option to purchase Slingboxes, DVRs and other state-of-the-art media units at discounted rates. The idea is to use the second panel as a predictor of how new media devices will affect future viewing patterns.

Ball State and Sequent won the contract to conduct the survey after a review that included two other undisclosed finalists. The researchers conducted a pre-test last year to prove to the CRE that a panel would cooperate and provide usable data that could be projected nationally, said Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research at Ball State's Center for Media Design. "The findings will provide an important platform for analysis and debate as the committee pursues its mission to inform future best practices in cross-platform video measurement," he said.

How creepy!

There is no way I would agree to have someone follow me around all day.

I don't see how subjects could behave normally with strangers monitoring their every move. I don't think I'd do my usual TV viewing in bed.

It sounds like an incredible waste of millions of dollars.