Business

Ratings shocker

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Nielsen’s plan to help TV networks grab a bigger piece of the $2 billion online video ad pie is experiencing some serious static.

The ratings giant is due to begin its “extended screen” reporting at the end of April to help TV channels count viewers watching video online, but, so far, its trial report shockingly hasn’t picked up any viewers.

The new report was developed specifically to allow ad agencies to count and rate video viewing. In order to do that, a broadcaster has to move its shows with the full complement of ads to the Web.

TV companies currently sell a limited ad load against their online shows for the equivalent of digital dimes. Hulu, the premium Web video service, for example, pulled in only $240 million last year. By comparison, the total TV ad market is about $70 billion.

One agency researcher expressed surprise at the blank ratings reports he’s been seeing for the past few weeks, while one senior TV executive said, “Nielsen has to deal with the nature of detection process. It’s not working.”

Agencies were told Nielsen couldn’t collect data from Apple computers, though Nielsen is rolling out Mac Meters and said the issue will be resolved by April.

To date, only three channels — Time Warner’s TNT, TBS and Comcast’s E! Entertainment — with less than a dozen shows between them, have signed up to code their ads and allow them to be tracked by Nielsen.

Those shows aren’t available to everyone, however. They’re gated behind password-protected broadband services of the pay-TV providers.

The myriad issues are a source of frustration for backers of the TV Everywhere initiative, which aims to persuade program providers and distributors to make content available wherever viewers want to watch, so long as they’ve got a password from their pay-TV company.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has been pushing that concept, in concert with Comcast, since June 2009.

The lack of participation by broadcast networks and other cable channels demonstrates the difficulties of moving the traditional TV model to the online world.

Potential participants say they can’t get on board and participate with Nielsen’s report until they’ve hammered out a host of separate issues from having to gain approval from all their advertisers to stream their spots online to the need to work with distributors in order to set up an authentication process to access shows online.

Even TNT and TBS, which have agreements only with Comcast, Verizon, Cox and Dish Network, can’t offer their TV Everywhere service nationally. Even then, distributors can’t tell Time Warner even basic data about how many people have signed up to view shows online.

catkinson@nypost.com