With 53 ad-supported networks programming a dizzying array of hours and days of the week, Nielsen Media Research is trying to clear up its daypart segments.
Under a new policy sent out to clients July 9, Nielsen says strictly defined dayparts like prime time (8-11 p.m.) or weekday mornings (6 a.m. to noon) only apply to networks that run programming during the majority of the daypart (at least 51% of the time). So Nick at Nite, which programs from 9 to 11, can be included as a prime time network, but Nickelodeon, which only has the 8-9 p.m. hour, can't.
The other change from Nielsen is renaming its "Total Day" measurement to "Total Programming Day." That means networks can only get rating for the times they have programming on. Sounds pretty logical from here.
