Clock Ticking at Nielsen

After years of media industry debate about the effectiveness of ads on television, Nielsen Media Research will finally help provide some answers.

Nielsen, the company that measures TV audiences and, hence, network ratings, will now proffer up TV ratings for commercials. It used to only do so for TV shows, but come fall, will provide minute-by-minute data.

The initiative will be important to the big networks, including GE's (GE Quote) NBC, News Corp.'s (NWS Quote) Fox, CBS(CBS Quote) and Disney's (DIS Quote) ABC. Needless to say, it will also be watched closely by advertisers large and small who collectively pour billions dollars into television buys each year. ...