User generated media is definitely rattling the cages of mainstream TV. Not just because people on the fringes are creating and uploading content that highly paid content creators are doing, but because sites like YouTube are contributing to the time-shifting phenomenon. I listened to a San Francisco Chronicle podcast about how even studios are uploading their clips to create some buzz, and a reporter saying that she loved YouTube because she can find episodes of programs that she missed on TV.

This brings in the advertising part of the equation. How to measure the time-shifted program audience (and charge adverrtisers for the viewers they attract?) Nielsen has a plan to ‘regain playback’ according to Media News Daily. This is a result of a push by the major broadcast networks "to seize the upper hand the next TV ratings debate."

MediaNewsDaily cites a Nielsen report that reveals how 18% of prime-time viewing was done in playback mode. As the time-shifting phenomenon grows, and alternative ways of getting our ‘non-live’ programs emerge, the ratings debate will heat up even more. Time to pull out all the measurement tools at our disposal. If I was an advertiser, I won’t wait for third party reports -I’d track my audience myself.