If we’ve learned anything from the new TV season, it’s this: live viewing is on its way out. Already, ABC (19%), Fox (20%) and NBC )10%) are down significantly among primetime’s key ratings demographic of adults 18-49 in the overnight ratings and we’re only in week three.

That doesn’t mean people aren’t watching TV, but more and more, they aren’t watching it live. What the networks desperately need and have been desperately calling for for years now is much better, much more inclusive cross-platform measurement. And it looks like help may soon be here.

Several ratings companies, including 900-pound gorilla Nielsen, are preparing to release new ratings tools that will allow networks to measure viewing across platforms, including on-demand, delayed, digital and mobile.

According to AdWeek, the ratings industry is being disrupted like the rest of television and that’s good news for TV broadcasters.

For starters, Symphony Advanced Media has unveiled VideoPulse, a “cloud-based service that captures live media usage by individuals across several platforms (including VOD, OTT, Web, mobile, gaming devices, DVRs and linear TV),” AdWeek reports. NBCUniversal and Viacom are currently beta-testing the service.”

ComScore, which recently announced plans to acquire Nielsen-competitor Rentrak, has introduced Xmedia, which combines linear and digital metrics.

And Nielsen too plans to debut its total audience measurement service, which intends to roll a show’s cross-platform performance into one number.

“One of the key elements of any ability to monetize is you need measurement,” Charles Buchwalter, president and CEO of Symphony Advanced Media, told AdWeek. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t sell it.”

Read more at AdWeek.

Brief Take: Networks will never be able to get away from live overnight ratings, which increasingly misrepresent how well shows are performing, until they have something with which to replace them. Multi-platform metrics can’t get here soon enough.

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