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Hulu Grew 33% in February, I think.

March 23rd, 2009 Posted in ITV, Rant, Video Metrics

I’m quite fed up with the latest Hulu viewership report.  Why is it that the title of NewTeeVee’s latest article is “Hulu Grew 33% in February,” and not “comScore and Nielsen differ by a factor of 4″ ???

If I can’t actualy count on the numbers (no pun intended), I don’t care about how much anyone apparently grew.    I suppose that the 33% is a consistent increase across the different reporting systems, but it’s lost on me why the numbers are so dramatically different in the first place.  Streams are close, but still look to be ~10% different.  Unique viewer counts exhibit a horrendous difference.  And viewing times don’t appear to exhibit any consistent correlation.

What is the actual problem with capturing accurate information?  Is it the platform’s ability to capture information?  Is it the methodology behind the reporting services’ calculations?  Or is it the implementation of all the different pieces of technology by the content provider?

I suppose it’s good that we’ve essentially got two different ratings agencies’ numbers.  But it’s a disappointment that NewTeeVee isn’t ushering in an era of reliability.  Urging comScore and Hulu to sync up on their data release schedule isn’t enough; and to be honest, it’s not even that important.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 am and is filed under ITV, Rant, Video Metrics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Hulu Grew 33% in February, I think.”

  1. Liz Gannes Says:

    March 23rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    Thanks for the comment. You are very right to doubt the data given the disparities. We write about this stuff so often sometimes it’s easy to forget.

    However, it’s not entirely hidden that there are differences in measurement techniques such as counting embeds, counting ads, counting porn, etc. And the various services use things like ISP data and panels that can’t be entirely accurate to start with.

    Liz


  2. John Douglas Says:

    March 23rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Having worked with comScore and Nielsen data in the past, I am familiar that they do have different methods of calculations. But this isnt television, and there is no reason we cant strive for better information. It may not have been my place to speak up as I’m not buying or selling inventory, but no one seems to be asking the questions outside of the IAB meetings …which i suppose in retrospect may in fact be a good thing! ;)