The television industry has known for years that video games are a threat to viewership, but a new pilot program might finally give some insight into exactly how big that threat is. The Nielsen Company is teaming up with Microsoft to study the reach of in-game advertising in the second season of 1 vs. 100 on Xbox Live. This will mark the first time that Nielsen has measured content delivered through a game.

While they are “partnered” in this endeavor, Microsoft’s goal is entirely different. They aim to use the project to find a way to woo the advertisers away from the networks and into the games.

“In the U.S. today, digital advertising spends are about $20 million, while television ad spends are about $75 million,” says Dean Carignan, director of advertising business strategy at Microsoft. “We think that larger pool is very much untapped by us today. And this is the first step in uncorking that. Without putting a number on it, I would say if we could get all of this right, it could lead to a dramatic [growth] in terms of revenue.”

The two companies will gather data over an initial 14-week period, and while this data will not be released, both companies have plans to later expand the program. When this happens, ratings information for Xbox Live will be listed alongside those of prime time television.

Source: CNBC