Nielsen is rolling out a program to track views of almost 1,000 shows on Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Instant Video and Hulu, relying on the same 25,000 U.S. households used to track traditional TV ratings. The idea is that, by having access to that data, large media companies such as Comcast NBCUniversal can hammer out better content licensing deals, especially with Netflix. Currently, Nielsen provides data only to studios that own the programs and pay for the information, but it plans to syndicate the data in the future. Continue reading Nielsen to Track Viewership Across Netflix, Amazon and Hulu

To attract a new generation of young viewers, children’s television channel Nickelodeon is retooling its strategy to produce shows with the more media-savvy viewer in mind. This latest generation of kids has typically consumed more media on TV and YouTube by the age of 12 than their older brothers and sisters did, so re-runs of older content no longer keep them hooked. Nickelodeon is now filming outdoors, adding multi-episode plotlines, and adding fresh writing and acting talent. Continue reading Nickelodeon Shifts Direction to Draw Today’s Younger Viewers

Television viewers may start seeing reruns of “Charlie’s Angels,” “Breaking Bad,” and other shows, thanks to new residual agreements between Hollywood movie studios and the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America, and the Directors Guild of America. The new deal abandons fixed-fee residual payments and makes it more affordable for cable networks and digital channels to acquire reruns of shows. The new residual payments will be based on a percentage-structure. Continue reading Studios, Guilds Agree on New Residual Terms for TV Shows

Bravo is one of the first networks to make use of Facebook’s new Keyword Insights API. Scanning private posts of the social networking site’s 100 million-plus users, Bravo is taking advantage of the feature — introduced in September — by running keyword searches during new episodes of the “Real Housewives” TV shows and using the data for social engagement during reruns. The reruns are referred to as the “social edition” versions, which include tweets and comments from the stars. Continue reading Bravo Uses New Facebook API to Enhance User Engagement