This is news?
TiVo, ReplayTV, and other DVR services have been collecting ad-zapping data for a decade. This, I know for a fact.
Back in 2000-2001, I worked for ReplayTV. Sure, the data that would tell us which specific people were doing the zapping was removed, but we could tell that "someone" in a specific area (say, Douglas County, NE) was skipping through ads, but would watch ones for Pepsi, or a particular movie. Same concept with television programs ... It's anonymous, but we still had the data showing how many people were watching program X, and whether it was watched "live" (within one hour of broadcast), delayed (1 to 24 hours after broadcast), or at some other time.
This information was then sold to advertisers, networks, etc. Sure, it never said "Joe Schmoe from Bakersfield is watching Real Housewives" but still ...
Though I left the company when it was bought out by Sonic Blue back in 2001/2002, I would be both surprised and amazed if they - or TiVo, or any other DVR service - has stopped capturing this information.
If I'm remembering right, at the time DVRs were in less than 5% of homes across the US. Per this article, it's now at 40%.
The data they have from DVR usage is probably a better indicator of actual viewers than the Nielsens, too.
But they can do the same thing with DVRs, and I don't see why they wouldn't. Hopefully, this trend will increase the pressure on ad agencies to make ads more interesting in their own right.
More likely, 60% of people are just too lazy and zombiefied to bother with the zapper.
