Nielsen Adjusts Plan for TV Ratings Change

Nielsen has modified its plan to change the metric on which advertising deals for local TV ads are made, and says it will continue to provide Live TV ratings until the end of March 2010.

Back in November, the agency announced it would be replacing its existing Live Only TV ratings data with a new 'Live + Same Day' TV measurement metric in January, to provide ratings for programs that are recorded and watched on the same day.

Despite complaints from the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) and others in the industry, Nielsen still plans to shelve the Live Only ratings, maintaining that its goals are 'to report data that best depicts contemporary viewing and that represents the best solution for addressing most clients' needs'.

However, the agency has today announced that it will continue to make live-only local TV ratings data available until March 2010 for comparison purposes.

In a client letter, Nielsen outlines that during a transition period from January 7 until March 31, 2010, it will introduce the new Live + Same Day data stream, and continue to provide Live LPM (Local People Meter) data in the TVS (Total Viewing Sources) format.

As originally announced, the new Live + Same Day data stream will be added to the TVS and electronic data files, while replacing the Live + 3 data stream during the transition period.

There is no change to the plan regarding Overnights data. The new Live + Same Day data stream will be added in LPM and Set Meter markets to Nielsen's overnight deliverables and will replace the Live Only data stream.

Sabrina Crow, SVP, MD of Local Media Client Services, says that Nielsen believes these steps will create the smoothest possible transition.

'In recent weeks we have been encouraged by the growing dialogue amongst our clients and we hope that this will lead to the industry's coalescing around a set of data streams that will be best suited to conduct business,' Crow states.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .