Integrated Media Measurement Inc., or “IMMI” (no, I hadn’t heard of them either) just released a report that analyzed the growing trend of people watching their favorite TV shows online. According to the report, about 20% of viewers watch some sort of primetime content on their computers, either in addition to or in place of watching it on television; for some context, that number was at about 6% last fall.

Probably the biggest factor in this has been the sheer increase in availability of programs via websites such as Hulu over the past year. Networks are finally seeing that, yes: you can put the entire library of The Daily Show online and actually turn a profit from advertising. And for me, this couldn’t have come at a better time. I wouldn’t call myself addicted to my TiVo, but going off to college in a month means that I likely won’t be able to watch almost anything on TV - I won’t have one. But an internet connection? Definitely. So although the internet is marginally cutting into the audience for live TV, it’s also creating a new set of consumers to be attacked with ads who would otherwise not be able to watch the television programs anyway.

And on an almost completely unrelated note: take a look at how IMMI collects its data (page 14). It gives the panelists cell phones that sporadically monitor the ambient noise, scanning for audio signatures that can be pinpointed to specific TV shows, radio programs, etc. Now, Nielsen’s been using this type of audio analysis for years on TV sets to find out what shows we watch and videogames we play, but incorporating it into a cell phone is taking it to a whole new level.

Upon further research, I learned that this type of monitoring has been around since before 2002. Arbitron makes something called a “Portable People Meter.” I’m not sure whether to call it a brilliant technology or just downright creepy. Your thoughts?

via LA Times

Also, I like how the report, which is obviously a selling-point for their services and is linked to from IMMI’s homepage, has the word “CONFIDENTIAL” printed in all caps on every page. Reminds me of a Daily Show excerpt: (starts at 1:30)