Daily Research News Online no. 3923 - Nielsen Media Welcomes Task Force Report

Nielsen Media Welcomes Task Force Report

March 24 2005

Nielsen Media Research yesterday made public, and welcomed, the content of the report of The Independent Task Force on Television Measurement. The Task Force was established last year as an independent body, amid the controversy over Local People Meters and their measurement of the viewing behaviour of people of colour.

The 19-member Task Force, chaired by former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins of Illinois, has been working for more than eight months, collecting information from Nielsen clients and community leaders, in order to make recommendations to Nielsen about how the ratings service can more accurately measure diverse television audiences.

Nielsen's President and CEO, Susan D. Whiting, congratulated the Task Force members for their outstanding work, and said the television ratings service will begin immediately to implement many of the report's recommendations.

Congressman Charles B. Rangel, whose initiative resulted in the Task Force's creation, said that after talking with Whiting he was 'confident that Nielsen is now moving in the right direction'. The report itself says that Nielsen 'conveyed the importance of accurately measuring a constantly changing American population, using evolving technology. While we have made a number of specific suggestions about how Nielsen can and should improve its measurement of our changing population, we also need to point out that the amount and quality of TV ratings data generated daily by Nielsen for hundreds of local stations and networks has been vital to the success of the U.S. television industry'.

Whiting says Nielsen now has 'an aggressive timetable for implementing the [Task Force's] recommendations' but adds that many of them 'will require support from our clients and agreement from the Media Rating Council which accredits audience measurement services such as Nielsen'.

Although focusing mainly on Nielsen's television research, the report also expressed concern about the lack of inclusiveness among persons of color within the greater television industry. Mrs. Collins' statement summarized the Task Force opinion that "...there is concern that the LPM controversy may distract attention from the larger issue of under-representation among persons of color in the television industry. It would be unfortunate if the industry's longstanding failure to adequately represent persons of color on television or in positions of authority were ignored because of the more highly publicized concerns over LPMs."

Among the conclusions, the Task Force said that 'LPM technology can more accurately measure the diverse viewing audience than, for example, paper diaries', although 'the demographic complexity of the nation's urbanized TV markets, however, makes this task very difficult'. It recommends oversampling of households of color 'and other households for which there is an important business or social reason'. It also gives recommendations relating to multilingual written materials, employment of female field representatives, training on cultural sensitivity and other areas. In addition, Nielsen will begin issuing quarterly public reports on its progress in reducing fault rates in LPM markets, with information posted on the Everyone Counts web site.

Some of the recommendations go as far as the internal composition of Nielsen, which is urged to create a new 'Office of Domestic Expanding Markets' with three functions: creating a culture of diversity within the company; implementing the Task Force recommendations, and working with the independent review council. The report comments on the need for a public awareness campaign, given that Nielsen agrees it 'needs to be better known by the general public, especially in communities of color'. Nielsen will also consider a recommendation for flexible pricing for smaller advertising agencies.

NMR is online at www.nielsenmedia.com and the Task Force's full report is available at www.everyonecounts.tv