According to an article in today's NYTimes, "The Incidental Video Screen Is Seen by More Viewers Than Prime Time" a new Nielsen report shows that away-from-home-video screens (like those at gas pumps, elevators, and health clubs) can generate more audience exposure than regular at-home TV viewing. So companies like Gas Station TV are stoked that they will now get some ad-dollar respect.
(Note: A careful reading of the article tells a slightly different story, measurement-wise, than its headline implies. What the article actually says about the number of impressions generated is:
“If you took the 10 networks that we measured and put a spot on each of the 10 for a month, “you’d draw more exposures than having a spot on every one of the top 20 programs in prime time” in a given week, said Paul Lindstrom, senior vice president of the Nielsen Company.
What the heck does that mean, measurement-wise?)
Myself, I find those gas pump video screens a visual and mental annoyance, as they try to suck me back into a passive media-fed state that I thought I left behind on the couch. But, who knows, maybe they'll start running The Daily Show? --WTP (Image courtesy of Joe Thorn)
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