House, Home Run Derby Top Out-of-Home Viewing

The first ratings for out-of-home viewing placed Fox’s House and ESPN’s Home Run Derby as the top primetime shows, averaging 570,000 viewers, according to a new service from Nielsen and Integrated Media Measurement.

In the specials category, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on NBC topped the charts with 1.1 million out-of-home viewers.

The measurement period was June 30-Aug. 10 in locations such as offices, fitness clubs, bars and hotels.

The ratings are separate from Nielsen’s National People Meter. The out-of-home sample was 1,700 national panelists.

Later in the year, out-of-home data from six local markets will be offered: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Denver. Those ratings will come from panels of 500 respondents in each city, or 3,000 participants in total.

“We are living in an environment where viewers are increasingly consuming media in locations outside of the home and, as researchers, we need to factor in audience exposure from all directions.” IMMI president and CEO Tom Zito said in a statement.

Initial clients of the out-of-home data are ESPN and Zenith Media.

Top Primetime Broadcast-Network Programs, July 2008 (6/30-7/27)

Persons 13-54, Live Out of Home

Network/Program Name/Date Aired/Rating/Viewers (000)

1: Fox/House/June 30/0.33/570

2: Fox/Moment of Truth/July 8/0.32/553

3: ABC/Bachelorette/June 30/0.31/535

3: Fox/Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader/July 24/0.31/535

5: Fox/Hell's Kitchen/July 8/0.30/518

5: Fox/Major League Baseball All-Star Game/July 15/0.30/518

5: Fox/So You Think You Can Dance/July 24/0.30/518

8: Fox/So You Think You Can Dance/July 23/0.29/501