This week, Nielsen announced it will begin tracking ratings for premium movies that premiere on streaming platforms. Its new Theatrical Video On-Demand (TVOD) measurement service will offer a way for clients to see how many people are streaming their content compared to other available options, plus provide demographic and behavioral information on viewer’s habits.
This new rating system comes as more film studios are releasing movies straight to consumers directly in their homes via SVOD platforms, a move which has been mostly driven by ripple effects from the Covid-19 pandemic. With theaters shut down across the world, even major films are seeing in-home releases.
Nielsen’s TVOD measurement service will provide more information than a film would be able to gather from a box office release, as well as transactional video views from purchases or rental fees.
“As this unprecedented pandemic continues to influence consumer behavior, perhaps even through a prolonged state of recovery waves, being able to measure and help clients appropriately monetize new revenue streams has never been more crucial,” said Scott N. Brown, GM Audience Measurement, Nielsen. “A bigger question might be what will audiences do following any recovery, how the behavior adopted during stay-at-home orders might influence habits when consumers have the ability to go back to theaters to enjoy that experience and how content creators will leverage data to make the best decisions regarding distribution platforms in the future.”