1. The fight over the R rating given to the Weinstein Co.’s Bully is intensifying, and as many rally around the film, it’s looking like it will be released without a rating. Getting slightly less attention, as any non-shirtlessness story tied to Matthew McConaughey will, is the NC-17 rating given to Killer Joe for violence and sexuality. Meanwhile, Lionsgate UK (ding!) trimmed seven seconds from The Hunger Games to drop the restricted age limit from 15 to 12.

2. Iran cancelled a planned celebration of Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi, with no indication why, but Farhadi still says he loves Iran and will never leave. Well, except maybe to make films, and he thought Paris looked like a good place for that. He might notice while he’s there how France has celebrated Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin.

3. The Guardian’s David Cox says Hollywood is courting older viewers now who don’t want special effects-laden blockbusters (ah, so that’s why John Carter bombed…or did it?). But theaters are still courting youth and their ever-present mobile phones, and Hollywood is offering any number of ways to watch movies on handheld devices, including wristwatches. (Somehow I don’t think a movie-viewing wristwatch is something I should get grandpa for his birthday this year.)

4. Wal-mart announced its “disc to digital” service for Ultraviolet, which could be make-or-break for UltraViolet, but Peter Kafka thinks it will be a tough sell given the various restrictions and inconveniences that come with it. But as a recent ruling against DVD-ripping technology Kaleidescape indicates, restrictions and inconveniences are the rule right now.

5. Nielsen stats say over half of US households have current gaming consoles in the home and gaming on mobile and tablet platforms is on the rise, and it looks like we’ll also have a new Xbox as an option by 2013. If we end up unhappy with our Xbox games, apparently we can sue the FTC over them, as gamers frustrated with the ending of Mass Effect 3 have done, though the game’s executive producer defends the ending and other perceived failings of the game.

6. More interesting stats courtesy of Nielsen: More women than men are blogging, and just over half of bloggers are parents with under-18 kids in the house. That might be related to why so many are impatient with slow-loading websites. But just imagine how tough it is to be a blogger in one of the Internet Enemies countries.

7. We’re not quite sure yet if tablets are hurting e-reader sales, and we’re not quite sure yet about how Kindle Singles are selling or how much money authors can make from them exactly, and we’re not quite sure yet if the Department of Justice has a case to make against publishers for colluding with Apple, and against Amazon, on e-books prices or even what e-books should cost. But we’re getting there.

8. A UK college student is being extradited to the US to face copyright infringement charges for hosting links to pirated media on his website. This is leading to a larger conversation in the UK over extradition laws, reaching all the way to the highest offices in each land.

9. Yahoo is suing Facebook over patents. Facebook says it’s disappointed and plans to fight back, though some expect Facebook to eventually settle or outright buy some of Yahoo’s patents.

10. Some of the finer News for TV Majors posts from the past few weeks: Luck Cancelled, Community Ratings, 2011 Ad Revenue Down, BBC Downloads, CW Shortens Delay, Return of The Killing, Amazon-Discovery Deal, Viacom Blog, Aereo Countersues, Netflix Branding, Mad Men & Weiner, Pay-As-You-Go Service, Teens Watching More, New UK Channel, Netflix & Apple, Ownership Rule Countered, Death of Cable.

1. Some movie development news: an Angry Birds movie is coming; so too, perhaps, is a Farmville movie; The Wolverine could be produced in both PG-13 and R-rated versions; the next Dark Knight movie could incorporate Occupy Wall Street; and more political movies are coming this election season, as are more Bible movies.

2. The contender list for the Oscars’ foreign-language film competition is now set with 63 films eligible. Iran would receive only its second-ever nomination with Asghar Farhadi’s The Separation. The film and the director alike tread carefully on political issues, including the imprisonment of Jafar Panahi, who just had his jail sentence and filmmaking ban upheld by a Tehran appeals court. Meanwhile, an Iranian actress has been sentenced to prison and flogging for her starring role in an Australian film.

3. UltraViolet and its apparent revolution has arrived and gives Hollywood high hopes for holiday season. Thus far it’s mostly just generating complaints, but maybe people just need to learn more about the service. Apple could have its cloud movie service ready to go by the end of the year, Netflix has to overcome its stumbling summer, and now Skype is hoping to compete with Netflix and Hulu via with a video service called Vdio (distinguishing itself by taking an i out rather than adding one at the start of a word).

4. Spotify had significant revenue losses last year that it hopes to turn around as it tries to gain traction in the US, which it probably can do if it keeps attracting young subscribers with money. Pandora still professes to not fear such competition, and perhaps it shouldn’t, with reports that digital music revenue could triple in the next few years.

5. We can look forward to the new PlayStation Vita in early 2012 and a new Xbox in 2013, while right now both Sony and Microsoft are battling against gaming account hacking. Warner Bros. Interactive is currently finding success with successful movie tie-in releases (if not gender representation, says Film Critic Hulk), which some of the 91% of kids aged 2-17 playing video games (91%!) will surely check out.

6. Google Buzz is dead, Google+ is dropping, Facebook is cashing big ad checks, and Twitter owns tweet and might get partially owned by a Saudi investor (the same one with a stake in Fox News; would our tweets have to be fair and balanced after that?). The Federal Reserve will be monitoring all of them soon to gauge public response to economic policy (then they can come up with one of those Hollywood Reporter-style reaction pieces: “See what Kim Kardashian tweeted about interest rates!”).

7. There are already more wireless subscribers than people in the US, yet it apparently won’t stop there, as the number of mobile connected devices is expected to double by 2020 (we may not even need people by then!). Hopefully a new video format will help reduce the strain of all those phones watching Parks & Rec clips (yes, it’ll still be on in 2020, and it’ll still be great). Bonus infographic: the value of digital consumers.

8. Forbes offers an in-depth profile of Dropbox, which has tripled its user base and raised $250 million in financing this year. Someone always has to offer the “yeah, but,” and David Coursey does so by saying Dropbox needs to expand its features or likely die out. Random aside: internet service in rural areas of North America could be getting much better soon thanks to a new satellite launching.

9. Viacom and Google are back in court over YouTube and copyright again, and Will Richmond says they should just sleep together and get on with it. YouTube isn’t waiting around to be asked out and instead is jumping ahead with a makeover, including offering virtual video production classes, video editing capabilities, and new TV apps (oh god, Fred on your connected TV; can we just shut down the internet right now?).

10. Some of the finer News for TV Majors (@N4TVM) posts from the past two weeks: Comedy Analysis, Rethinking Ratings, Cross-Platform Viewing, Fox Writing Program, Drama Future,  TV & Toddlers, Fall Social Report, Spinoffs Within Shows, Basic Reality, Cross-Platform C3 Obstacles, Netflix-CW Deal, Network Lunch, No HBO Window, Qwikster Dead, Breaking Bad Finale, Grey’s Abortion.

1. Remember how I said in every spring post that Spotify was coming to the US and it never came? Well, wouldn’t you know it, while WAYM was away, Spotify finally draped itself in the Stars and Stripes! Not surprisingly, Spotify has started out strong, is on track for its very first profit, and could pose a threat to iTunes. Meanwhile, Pandora says Spotify’s launch hasn’t affected its service, which despite posting losses is growing in revenue, and Pandora’s ad rate potential is even getting into traditional radio territory.

2. Lots of lawsuit and negotiation news in the music biz lately, including a Village People singer suing for copyright credit, artists like Bruce Springsteen getting a shot at reclaiming ownership of recordings from labels, music publishers dropping a suit against YouTube, and AFTRA working on a new contract with labels. The most potentially impactful case for the future of music services came down last week, when a judge ruled in favor of EMI and against the online service MP3tunes but at the same time affirmed the legal foundation for music locker services like the ones Google and Amazon are fostering. The judge decided these services don’t violate copyrights, but Peter Kafka says this mainly keeps the status quo for consumers. If you want to see status that is not quo, check out this pie chart animation of recording industry revenue from 1980 to 2010.

3. Another big event WAYM missed on hiatus was the new Netflix plans, and despite a lot of grumbling from consumers, James McQuivey says Netflix is still doing fine. Additional developments at Netflix include a kids’ section, rumors of a VOD rental option, and future expansion into Britain and Spain, a country which others have stayed out of because of struggles with piracy. We know DVD sales are plunging, but digital downloads and rentals aren’t doing so hot either. Amazon is touting new digital movie deals, but Wal-Mart’s Vudu has zipped past it in market share, and Miramax is trying out Facebook, which is now ranked third as an online video destination.

4. The lineup for the Toronto Film Festival, which runs from Sept 8-18, has been released, and indieWire highlights some of the surprises among films that won’t be there. This summer’s specialty hits included Midnight in Paris and Senna, while The Worst Movie EVER! turned out to have the most prescient title ever, at least box office-wise. Unfortunately the economy doesn’t bode well for indie filmmakers, so the Weinsteins are looking to Broadway to make more money, and you can check record stores (if they still exist in your area) to find David Lynch.

5. A Disney executive admitted that studios don’t care at all about story when it comes to tentpole films, which makes it extra hilarious that Disney’s Lone Ranger reboot with Johnny Depp has been shut down because of a sky-rocketing budget. Same deal with Universal’s Ouija Board film. Just a thought: Maybe shooting for a good story would be cheaper. If those projects get cranked back up again, the writers might want to consult Sean Hood’s essay about what it feels like to have your film flop at the box office. And apparently the Chinese don’t care about story either, because Hollywood is really making a push into that market.

6. According to Nielsen stats, older people are increasingly using tablets and eReaders. That has to be good news for Reader’s Digest, which is now on the iPad. It’d be great if the olds would read digital comics too, which are now available via a digital storefront initiative. While some fear that the book’s days are numbered, Paul Carr argues that eBooks are helping to make this a Golden Era of books, and he also doesn’t see books suffering from piracy issues. eBooks may suffer from over-pricing issues, though, as a class-action lawsuit against Apple claims. But if you want to over-pay for good old-fashioned magazines, there are plenty still on shelves.

7. Big computing news in HP dropping out of the tablet business, which led to a TouchPad fire sale. Plus HP might spin off its PC business, which Erica Ogg sees as a sign we’re at the end of the PC era, and others see as a sign that HP is a poorly-run company. Most companies involved in mobile device manufacturing are busy suing each other over patents, while mobile phone users are busy texting and picture-taking, and nearly a third of young adults are busy pretending to have phone conversations so as to avoid talking to nearby humans.

8. Google+ is the new social media service on the scene, which Facebook claims not be worried about, especially since it saw record traffic in July. Some say Facebook really should be worried, as it’s in danger of losing even more rich suburban parents. At least it’s got the millionaires over Twitter, and the celebrities still haven’t found Google+ yet, but all social media still has about 50% of America yet to get on board for anything. Just don’t ask all of Germany to get on board with the “Like” button.

9. Video game sales were way down this summer, with July bringing the lowest sales numbers in nearly five years. Sales are about to get even worse at GameStop, which has angered some consumers by yanking a coupon from sealed game boxes after determining it favored a competitor. And a planned videogame museum is on the ropes. At least Xbox Live seems to be doing well, and Angry Birds is headed for 1 billion downloads and even better gameplay.

10. Some of the finer News for TV Majors (@N4TVM) links from the past two weeks: Louie’s Magic, RIP iTunes TV Rentals, Summer Viewing Up, TV Ad Problems, British Timeshifting, Fox Defending Wall, TWC Uses Slingbox, Shorter Seasons, Doctrine Gone, State of Network TV, Future Trends, Real Housewives Tragedy, Google Buys Motorola Mobility, Breaking Bad Renewed/Ending.

In the U.S., Amazon has had a patent on this one-click purchasing system since the late 90s. It’s called “Method And System For Placing A Purchase Order Via A Communications Network”. It’s a special class of patent known as a “business method patent”, since it covers a particular way of doing business. Most patents cover specific gadgets, like a new broom or a better mousetrap. Patent-holders get a 20-year right to prevent others from making a similar invention and profiting from it. Business method patents grant ownership over technologies and the ways those technologies are put to use.

Relatively rare before the 1990s, the U.S. patent office started handing out business method patents more regularly with the rise of computers and online retail services. There are now patents on methods of running online auctions, the use of electronic shopping carts and even the selling of audio and video downloads over the Internet. Since the mid-90s, applications for business method patents in the U.S. have skyrocketed from hundreds to tens of thousands per year.

Here where I am in Canada, we haven’t experienced the same surge, mostly because the wording of our Patent Act seemingly excludes business methods. But that may be changing. Amazon’s quest to patent the one-click system here is currently at the Federal Court of Appeal, after 13 years of rejections, appeals, and reversals.

Business method patents are troubling because they grant a monopoly not just over a particular technology but ultimately over ways of doing – over ways of interacting with technology. They allow patent holders to stake a claim in what is, in essence, human behaviour. (Apple, for example, has patents covering certain gestures for interacting with their touch-sensitive gizmos).

The absurdity of business method patents is highlighted by Amazon’s use of their 1-click patent in the U.S. In 1998, the company used their 1-click patent to sue rival Barnes & Noble, alleging the “Express Lane” feature on B&N’s website was infringement. B&N had to alter their site so that purchases involved two clicks instead of one. Amazon essentially argued that its patent on a specific use of web browser “cookie” technology also gave it control over an entire method of buying digital stuff.

Business method patents create a blanket of legal hurdles and licensing fees that smother inventors’ ability to innovate. For example, a recent study by James Bessen and Michael Meurer suggests there are upwards of 4,319 patents an entrepreneur could be violating just by selling merchandise online. This patent “thicket” makes developing new gadgets and software more expensive – costs that consumers experience in the form of higher prices.

As more e-commerce moves to mobile phones and other portable devices, these platforms will face a similar land run. In fact, a recent investigative report on This American Life and NPR (“When Patents Attack!) showed how business method and software patents are increasingly causing headaches for big and small tech companies alike. Companies without actual products (non-practicing entities in biz-speak) are amassing huge portfolios of patents and using them to attack actual developers and hardware makers, trying to force them to pay stifling licensing fees.

Companies like Lodsys (one of the shell companies This American Life affiliates with Intellectual Ventures). Earlier this summer, the company sent out infringement notices to half a dozen developers who make applications for Apple’s iPods and iPhones. These are small developers – makers of calculator apps and twitter clients – who allow users to buy upgrades to their programs from within the applications themselves. Lodsys, a company that doesn’t make any competing apps, claims it has a patent on in-app purchasing. They are demanding a licensing fee of 0.575% for all U.S. sales of the apps until their patent expires. While Google, RIM, or Apple have the legal and financial resources to deal with such demands, smaller developers often don’t.

So next time you click once to buy, ask yourself whether the process is so unique and novel that Amazon should have a 20-year monopoly to it. The basic properties of the Internet (e.g. many-to-many communication, hyperlinks, etc.) opened up new ways for users and companies to interact. These qualities are just as responsible for new ways of doing business as any specific business method. If patents are supposed to spur innovation by sharing discoveries while also protecting inventors’ ability to profit from their ideas, we need to ask whether they are meeting this goal, or whether they simply act as quiet quests for control over information and cultural practices.

The producers (Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, and Sue Vertue) have stated that their inspirations were the most-maligned of the Rathbone films of the 1940s (e.g., Roy William Neill’s Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon), in which Holmes and Watson fought Nazis during World War II. Not intending to create a simple “pastiche” of Holmes, Gatiss and Moffat have both spoken of “blasting away the fog” of Victoriana (which appears to have been quite successful in terms of ratings and appreciation, by the way).

So far, Sherlock has presented several hat-tips to attentive Holmes fans, from references to other Holmes stories (Mrs. Turner, James Phillimore, plus a scene swiped from The Sign of the Four), an explanation of Watson’s wandering war wound, and even hints of Billy Wilder’s excellent The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (through a character played by Gatiss). Moffat and Gatiss attempt to “reclaim” Holmes — they argue that the adventures of Holmes and Watson weren’t nostalgia to those who read the stories in The Strand Magazine, and there is nothing in principle standing in the way of modernizing the Canon (down to specific details, such as Watson’s Afghanistan war injury). The cleverness of this update is in how it dances between an interpretation of Holmes and Watson that stays true to elements of the source texts, while also exploring changes necessary for the 21st century setting.

As we’re in an era of CSI and investigative specialization, Holmes’s skills have been refined to be about making deductions and connections, and less about the forensics that typified many of the original cases. One senses that much has been done to remove the impact of the real Holmes and Watson — that is, as popular fictional characters — in order to make this series work. This manifests in clever and subtle ways; in the aired first episode Holmes and Watson staked out 22 Northumberland St from a restaurant across the street, a spot that is actually the location of the The Sherlock Holmes Pub. Additionally, in shooting the (unaired but included on DVD) pilot, the production carefully framed exterior shots near the Baker St. underground station so the real-life Holmes statue wasn’t visible, leaving one to wonder what they’ll do if they ever film in the Baker St. tube station itself (see below). In the aired first episode, these scenes were re-staged as taking place in a park, perhaps in order to avoid the issue entirely.

One way of thinking about these choices is as as a kind of inversion of “The Game,” or the playful exercise of fans in which Holmes and Watson are assumed to be real and brought into the events of the late Victorian/Edwardian era (Holmes solving the Jack the Ripper murders being a common topic of many pastiches). Holmes scholars are celebrating the centenary of The Game next year, and this new Sherlock sets itself apart from many of other renditions by being forced to address that 2010’s world is one in which Doyle’s stories, Rathbone’s and Downey Jr.’s films, and Livanov’s and Brett’s television performances have all had their mark upon the public consciousness. Rather than insert Holmes and Watson into history, the actual impact of these fictional characters must be accommodated or removed.

There was much sensationalism over the BBC’s decision to not air that 55-minute, £800k pilot. The producers insisted that the switch to a 90-minute format was behind this decision, but having seen a few brief clips from the pilot, it seems that the choice to bring in director Paul McGuigan (Push, Lucky Number Slevin) had an impact as well. That is, the visual style of Coky Giedroyc’s pilot seemed relatively staid, not distinguishable from many police procedurals, and perhaps heightening a sense of Sherlock as a “rerun” rather than a hard “reboot.” If the pilot was visually not very distinct from other recent mysteries, many which owe great debts to Holmes productions, how are we to believe that a Holmes and Watson didn’t already exist in this world, even as fictional characters?

McGuigan relies on a different visual pallette, with lens flares, graphics overlays, deft use of split screens, and, most notably, the presentation of on-screen text rather than cutaways to illustrate the pervasive use of mobile phones and inner thought processes (see below). It seems Euros Lyn (director of episode 2, “The Blind Banker”) will follow the same approach, and McGuigan returns for the final episode of the series. Reminiscent of some videogames (Quantic Dream’s recent Heavy Rain, in particular), this provides a striking, contemporary look to Sherlock. The Holmes and Watson of the 21st century both engage with modern technology, but unlike Rathbone/Bruce also have their inner thought processes represented in manners that remediate popular media. To be a plausible 21st century Holmes, one must be shown as thinking like a 21st century person, within a network of mobile phones, Internet-enabled devices, and even video games.

Sherlock is at once both an update of the classic and a novel creation. As it evolves, it will be interesting to see more of the world in which Holmes is just now appearing for the first time, as well as how this is conveyed through the changing visual style of the series.

Beginning on Wednesday afternoon with a keynote by Kurt Squire of UW-Madison, a tone was set for the conference — it is no longer sufficient to think of games as mere learning tools or simple entertainment, but to begin to think of games as “possibility spaces,” ripe with potential for driving learning practices beyond the simple conveyance of limited educational content. As was picked up by many of the participants at the conference, Squire exhorted a Montessori approach to thinking of gaming, focusing on how it can open up curiosity in the learner. With such a variety of attendees to the conference, we saw fostering conversations between these many disciplines and professions as a central theme to GLS 6.0.

After a fantastic Wednesday night poster session, Thursday morning began with a joint keynote by Drew Davidson of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon and Richard Lemarchand, game designer at Naughty Dog and co-designer of last year’s award-winning Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Part of Davidson’s Well-Played series of talks and books, this keynote contained both a careful read of the game, with Davidson highlighting the ways that Uncharted 2 constructed meaning and experiences for the player, paired with Lemarchand’s thoughts on the designers’ goals for each scene/section of the game. This kind of cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional conversation is a hallmark of the GLS conferences, and it was wonderful to see Davidson’s series of these talks now foregrounded as a keynote.

The conference also offered sessions ranging from a social game design workshop led by Eric Zimmerman in which participants prototyped games that could be implemented on Facebook, to empirical studies, such as Rebecca Black‘s report on the constraints to literacy learning presented within virtual worlds for tweens. Sessions on science learning, environmental literacy, governance, computational literacies, and identity were all well-attended, and illustrated the range of topics that games and interactive learning media are being applied to. GLS featured a variety of innovative formats — including “chat n’ frag” interactive sessions, smaller “fireside chat” conversations, and “worked example” sessions. The field is maturing and in what appears to be useful directions, bringing diverse sets of scholarship to the table.

Design was, in particular, a strong theme this year, explored in terms of using games to create valuable contexts for learning, engaging students in design (a topic addressed by Ben Aslinger, among others), the design of commercial video games, and creating game experiences for specific learning goals. This emphasis branched out into research on mobile gaming (UW-Madison’s ARIS platform for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad was given great focus), fan cultures and productions (addressed by us, as well as Derek Johnson), multimodal forms of literacy, and youth education and development.

The greatest thrill at GLS this year, however, came from Thursday night’s keynote by USC’s Henry Jenkins. As he was presenting at the Fiske Matters conference subsequent to GLS, Jenkins clearly took the opportunity to touch on the applicability of many of Fiske’s themes to games and learning. Thinking of the forthcoming tasks for the games and learning communities not so much as delivering embedded learning content but instead understanding how fandom and the “active audiences” of game cultures are empowered toward social action, Jenkins argued that the playful environments of participatory media are not trivial, isolating forces, but are fostering political engagement and activism around the world.

Overall, we found it to be a wonderful experience, and one in which we were happy to see a broadening of scope and increased diversity in forms of participation. Conference chair Constance Steinkuehler reported that GLS 6.0 was significantly up in attendance over last year’s conference. We hope to see this growing community further come to understand how Squire’s concept of games as “possibility spaces” might be fruitful in developing educational reform, and also in foregrounding learning and literacy as critical approaches for media studies.

To find out more about the conference, see the GLS 6.0 site, or the official Flickr stream.

In 2008, after some substantial acquisitions on the European television audience measurement front, Nielsen proudly informed its clients that it now controlled three quarters of the world’s television currency data.  But again, traditional television ratings represent only the tip of the iceberg for a company that is also a primary source of information about video sales (Nielsen VideoScan), book sales (Nielsen BookScan), video game sales (Nielsen Games), music consumption (Nielsen SoundScan), newspaper audiences (Scarborough Research), mobile device usage (Nielsen Mobile Media) and Web traffic (Nielsen NetRatings).  Nielsen has even begun competing head to head with Arbitron in the measurement of radio audiences (Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement).

And yet there remain many more media audiences – or at least aspects of these audiences –  to capture.  Today, Nielsen’s growth involves expansion across three dimensions.  The first is geographic.  For instance, Nielsen now provides television audience data in over 30 countries around the world.  The company’s NetRatings service has established panels and site-centric measurement systems in countries around the world, to the extent that Nielsen now claims to monitor 90 percent of global Internet activity.

The second dimension involves expansion across platforms.  One of Nielsen’s most significant ongoing initiatives is the development of its Anytime, Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) system, which seeks to provide comprehensive audience data integrated across the “three screens” (television, computer, mobile device) by which the bulk of electronic media consumption takes place.  Nielsen also measures audiences for what it calls the “fourth screen” – location-based video outlets such as those found in health clubs, bars, gas stations, and elevators. As new media platforms enter the mediascape, Nielsen is there.

And the third, and perhaps least discussed, involves expansion across the criteria by which audiences are valued.  That is, today, buying media audiences has become about much more than simply buying audience exposure. Data on the size and demographics of the audience that consumed a particular piece of media content represent only scratches the surface of audience understanding in today’s rapidly changing media environment.  Today, advertisers and marketers also want information about how engaged those audiences were, how well they recalled what they consumed, and how their behaviors were affected (to name just a few of the emerging currencies).

Nielsen is continuing to expand to meet these demands as well.  For instance, Nielsen recently invested in a firm called NeuroFocus, which specializes in applying brainwaves research to the analysis of advertising and content effectiveness.  And just this month, Nielsen acquired an online audience measurement firm called GlanceGuide, whose primary product is an “attentiveness score” for online video content.  Nielsen IAG measures the extent to which television audiences recall the details of the programs they watched.  And Nielsen BuzzMetrics measures how much online conversation is taking place about various media products – both in advance of and after they are released.

The obvious question that arises from this scenario is whether it is a good or a bad thing for one firm to play such a dominant role in the construction of media audiences.  Even Congress has looked into this question.  I’m not going to try to answer the question of whether this situation is good or bad.  It’s too big a question to try to answer here. But what I will say is that this situation may very well be inevitable.  Media companies and advertisers hate uncertainty, and what a sole audience measurement service provides is a bit less uncertainty. Competing providers means competing – often contradictory – numbers.  And such contradictions equal uncertainty.  This isn’t to say that Nielsen’s numbers are necessarily right.  But as long as everyone involved chooses to treat them as right, uncertainty is reduced.  Such are the somewhat bizarre machinations of the audience marketplace.