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Kate Williams

Nielsen

July 12, 2016

MOVING FROM A HOUSEHOLD-LEVEL 

SET-BASED DIARY TO A PERSONAL 

LEVEL MULTI-SOURCE TV DIARY
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AGENDA • Overview of the TV Diary Service • The Set-Based Diary • Dual Media Diary Study • Redesigned Person Level TV Diary • Results of Testing • Where Do We Go From Here?
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TV DIARY SERVICE
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NIELSEN TV DIARY SERVICE

• Conducted in ~150 TV DMAs across the county

• Four TV sweeps periods each year—each four weeks long

• February, May, July and November

• ABS sample frame—attempt to match a telephone number, if possible

• Multi-stage methodology

• Matched: Call to receive permission to send diaries and send TV diaries to household

• Unmatched: Mail screener to gather telephone number, call to receive permission to 

send diaries and send TV diaries to household

• Set-based Diary

• Up to five diaries are mailed to a household—based on the number of telephone sets

• Households without a TV are ineligible

• TV viewing for persons 2+ is recorded in the diary for the TV they were watching

• Viewing from household guests can also be included 

• Diary is one week (7 days for non-DVR households, 8 days for DVR households)
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Mailing Envelope

OR

THE DIARY PACKAGE

FAQ Brochure

Letter

TV Diary
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THE SET-BASED TV DIARY
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DIARY DAY PAGE
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INSTRUCTION PAGE-PART 1
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INSTRUCTION PAGE-PART 2
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DUAL MEDIA DIARY TEST
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DUAL MEDIA DIARY TEST

• Goal: Determine if respondent would be willing to complete diaries for more than 

one media type

• Purpose: Reduce overall recruitment costs, single-source measurement across 

media types

• Approach: Households complete two media diaries approximately one month 

apart. Test of diary order: 1⁄2 Radio then TV, 1⁄2 TV then Radio

• Methodology: Used a household flooding approach where we recruited all 

persons aged 12+ to complete personal diaries. Recruited the household to 

complete the first diary and then just sent the second set of diaries to households. 

For the TV Diary, used a design very similar to Radio.

• Timing: Test conducted from October-December 2015
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RE-DESIGNED PERSON-LEVEL TV DIARY
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SET-BASED VS. PERSON LEVEL DIARY METHODOLOGY

SET-BASED PERSON-LEVEL

How Assigned One Diary per TV Set 

(up to 5 per household)

One Diary per Person 

(up to 9 per household)

Ages Surveyed Each person 2+ in household Each person 12+ in household

Visitors Measured? Yes, included in the diary for the 

TV they watched No, just household members

Types of Viewing Included Broadcast, Cable Broadcast, Cable, Streaming Services 

(Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.)

TV Viewing Via Computer/ 

Mobile Device Included

No, only viewing on a TV set 

included Yes

Out-of-Home Viewing 

Included

No, only viewing on that specific 

TV included Yes

Recording of Viewing Times Grid has pre-printed times—15 

minute increments

Grid is open-ended with day parts on 

left. Respondent enters start and 

stop time

Non-Viewing Days Instructions tell respondent to 

write no-viewing across grid Box at the bottom of the page
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REVISED DIARY DAY PAGE
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REVISED INSTRUCTIONS PAGE
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RESULTS OF TESTING
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FRIENDS AND FAMILY PRE-TEST

• 28 friends, family and clients kept the person-level TV diary for three days and 

then completed a short web survey about their experience

• Goal of test was to identify any major issues with the diary usability

• Participants were generally positive about the new design

• The instructions were easy to understand

• It was easy to record viewing

• The survey took about the amount of time they expected to complete

• There were relatively few issues reported by users

• No example of how to record “On Demand” viewing

• Not enough space to record the name of the program viewed
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RESULTS OF DUAL MEDIA DIARY TEST

RADIO FIRST TV FIRST

RADIO TV TV RADIO

MATCHED

CONSENT RATE 26.2%

(n=1246)

26.2%

(1246)

28.5%

(1223)

28.5%

(1223)

RETURN RATE 68.0%f

(741)

47.0%f

(741)

56.4%f

(819)

40.2%f

(819)

RESPONSE RATE 17.8%bd

(2841)

12.3%ac

(2841)

16.1%bd

(2874)

11.5%ac

(2874)

UNMATCHED

SCREENER RATE 23.1%

(3070)

23.1%

(3070)

23.1%

(3070)

23.1%

(3070)

RETURN RATE 63.2%f

(1508)

48.2%ad

(1508)

48.8%ad

(1626)

42.5%f

(1626)

RESPONSE RATE 14.6%f

(7429)

11.1%ad

(7429)

11.3%ad

(7429)

9.8%f

(7429)

UNIFIED UNIFIED RATE 15.7%f

(4316)

11.5%ac

(4316)

13.1%f

(4293)

10.3%ac

(4293)

73% retained 79% retained

Significant (p<.05) vs: a Radio (Radio 1st), b TV 

(Radio 1st), c TV (TV 1st), d Radio (TV 1st), f all 

other waves
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TV AVERAGE QUARTER HOURS BY AGE AND MARKET

How does audience for TV 1st compare to TV 2nd? How does audience compare to TV currency?

TOTAL WEEK (6A-6A)

TEST DATA 

(PERSON LEVEL DIARY)

TV CURRENCY

(SET BASED DIARY)

TV 1ST TV 2ND TV 1ST COMP 

(NOV 5-NOV 11)

TV 2ND COMP 

(NOV 19-NOV 25)

BAKERSFIELD

PERSONS 18+

98.1 

(696)

100.1 

(604)

88.1 

(232)

96.2 

(202)

PERSONS 18-49

71.3 

(357)

68.8 

(331)

56.9 

(130)

70.2 

(111)

PERSONS 25-54

78.9 

(347)

77.9 

(318)

58.3 

(121)

82.0 

(111)

CHARLOTTESVILLE

PERSONS 18+

71.1 

(427)

74.3 

(351)

89.4 

(174)

80.2 

(172)

PERSONS 18-49

51.4

(249)

51.0 

(201)

50.8 

(69)

44.6 

(64)

PERSONS 25-54

55.8 

(231)

57.7 

(215)

62.0 

(79)

58.7 

(68)

Sample size is provided in parenthesis

Statistical testing is TBD—will be included in final report
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TV AVERAGE QUARTER HOURS WITH SET BASED RULES

How does the test person diary compare to currency set diary if we apply rules used for the setbased diary (i.e. no non-set homes, no out of home viewing, no Internet viewing)

TOTAL WEEK (6A-6A)

TEST DATA WITH SET BASED RULES 

(PERSON LEVEL DIARY)

TV CURRENCY

(SET BASED DIARY)

TV 1ST TV 2ND TV 1ST COMP 

(NOV 5-NOV 11)

TV 2ND COMP 

(NOV 19-NOV 25)

BAKERSFIELD

PERSONS 18+

86.6 

(696)

88.0 

(604)

88.1 

(232)

96.2 

(202)

PERSONS 18-49

57.9 

(357)

53.2 

(331)

56.9 

(130)

70.2 

(111)

PERSONS 25-54

67.6 

(347)

65.3 

(318)

58.3 

(121)

82.0 

(111)

CHARLOTTESVILLE

PERSONS 18+

54.4 

(427)

57.3 

(351)

89.4 

(174)

80.2 

(172)

PERSONS 18-49

34.6 

(249)

34.7 

(201)

50.8 

(69)

44.6 

(64)

PERSONS 25-54

39.8 

(231)

41.0 

(215)

62.0 

(79)

58.7 

(68)

Sample size is provided in parenthesis

Statistical testing is TBD—will be included in final report
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TYPE OF VIEWING BY AGE

How does composition of viewing change by age of respondent? What portion of 

viewing was to streaming/online sources?

23%

35% 37%

45% 53% 50% 54%

38%

34%

37%

37%

38% 45%

35% 44%

29% 23%

17%

7% 4% 2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

12-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Broadcast Cable Internet VOD/PPV Unclassified
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

• The goal of this test was primarily to determine if households would complete 

multiple 

• Secondarily this was a proof-of-concept for the person-level TV diary

• Based on the Friends & Family Test and the Dual Media Dairy Test, the personlevel TV diary appears to have promise

• Listening levels were relatively comparable to those from the currency service

• Diary entries in the new instrument looked reasonable

• Some minor issues that need to be addressed

• The out-of-home viewing box was confusing—some respondents checked it any time 

they left the home, not just when they viewed TV out of home

• Some respondents filled out DVR section (time-shifting) even when they were watching 

live

• Many respondents didn’t record an AM or PM associated with their time-shifted 

viewing—boxes were small and hard to see

• Next step would be larger scale testing of the person-level instrument
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