Nielsen Rolls Out 'People Meters'(Fox will be hurt)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nielsen8jul08.story

Nielsen Rolls Out 'People Meters'(Fox will be hurt)
The TV ratings firm switches to the new devices in L.A. despite continued criticism.
By Meg James
Times Staff Writer

July 8, 2004

Los Angeles' television landscape could be on the verge of a dramatic shift.

Beginning today, TV ratings giant Nielsen Media Research plans to switch to "people meters" in the Los Angeles market, potentially altering the way advertisers spend more than $2 billion for local airtime.

Backers say the new system for measuring audiences is more accurate and is widely expected to show lower ratings for some programs aired by broadcast stations while boosting numbers for some lower-profile cable offerings.

"We will continue to follow the ratings. The ratings will determine how we allocate our clients' dollars," said Sue Johenning, an executive vice president for Initiative, an advertising firm that buys commercial time for Home Depot and Carl's Jr. restaurants, among others.<snip>

Some networks and a coalition of community groups, called Don't Count Us Out, are particularly unhappy about the changes. For months, they have lobbied Nielsen to delay the switch-over. They say Nielsen's sample audience underrepresents Latinos and African Americans, producing faulty results. Leading the charge have been News Corp., which owns Fox Broadcasting Co.; Viacom Inc.'s CBS; Spanish-language Univision Communications Inc.; and TV station owner Tribune Co., which also publishes the Los Angeles Times.<snip>

[rocktivity]

1. I remember when the music industry switched to SoundScan

Some of the albums in the top ten dropped off the Billboard charts completely!

:headbang:
rocknation

[cthrumatrix]

2. but Fuax is "fair & balanced"...so they would like this (sarcasm off)

[donco6]

3. One thing they're not considering yet . . .

. . . is the eventual impact of TIVO. I almost never watch commercials anymore, though I still catch a lot of TV programs that I've pre-recorded.

What's the eventual impact on TV ratings and commercial rates? How far can cable costs climb to offset the drop in ad revenue?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[sendero]

4. I watch 90% of my TV...

... pre-recorded on Tivo. Tivo's smart fast forward makes it trivial to skip over the commercials. I love Tivo :)

[SoCalDem]

6. I watch 99% on my Dish recorder.. No commercials for me

:)Love the "skip ahead" feature

[Pab Sungenis]

8. Actually.... (TiVo and People Meters)

IIRC, it depends on where you have your People Meter wired up.

If it's coming out of the TiVo (as if you were using the TiVo as a cable box), it should make note of whatever you're watching, whether pre-recorded or not.

The People Meters use "XDS" technology, which takes coded information sent during the Vertical Blank scan on a TV, same way closed captioning is sent. So, if you TiVo, say, "Good Eats" at 3 AM but watch it at 5 PM the next day, the People Meter will notch that you watched that showing of "Good Eats" as if it was live.

[unfrigginreal]

5. It probably won't change a thing

I've always felt that Nielsen was a major contributor to the right wing skew of the TV media. The problem has always been unbalanced representation in their monitored sample. This won't change that.

Until they make efforts to insure that their sample is representive of society, by race, class, gender AND political persuasion we'll continue to see right wing trash at the top of the charts.

[Maeve]

7. A former insider's take on this

Hubby was a Nielsen rep for 15 years--signed up households, installed people meters, had access to much of the raw data, so that's what I'm basing my opinions on here.

The diary data is highly variable and tends to inaccurate--it is often filled in by one member of the household and lists what that person thinks was watched. (Often, not always) And people do lie, fudge, misremember. The people meters are recording directly from the set (and yes, all sets in the house are hooked up, including VCRs, etc), so the data is more accurate. IIRC, there are buttons that have to be pushed periodically to tell who is watching, but what is on is automatically recorded. The downside--if someone uses the tv as background (like my mom leaving the shopping channel on all day) there is no way to tell how much actual viewing is going on. Just that someone hits the button when the lights flash to have them check in.

Personally, I think the people meter is more effective, more accurate and less subject to manipulation. However, the pressure to make Nielsen check and re-check the representation proportions is GOOD--they were careless with methodology in the '90's when Hubby left, pushing for quantity work over quality among the reps (one of the reasons he quit).