Nielsen Media Research will start monitoring commercial viewing habits starting in November. The Wall Street Journal reports that this could lead to a decline in advertising rates since Nielsen is expected to learn what we already know: we tune out commercials. This hard evidence could lead to an increase of product placement, or advertising within a program instead of during program breaks. I’m not quite sure how Nielsen will know that viewers have walked away from the television for a snack or a bathroom break during commercials. It looks like they’ll actually be tracking the way we use our DVRs and whether we fast-forward through commercials. This article in the Seattle PI says that CBS has already done some research and discovered that 40-50% of people with DVRs still watch commercials. Do these people not know how DVRs work?