Nielsen Services Win Back MRC Accreditation

Nielsen has been granted Media Rating Council (MRC) re-accreditation for its Local People Meter (LPM) service and Set Meter measurement services in 19 of 31 mid-size US TV markets; as well as for its National People Meter (NPM) service.

In 2016, Nielsen stopped using paper diaries to collect demographic data in the 31 markets, replacing them with a new 'Viewer Assignment' (VA) method, and in the process lost MRC accreditation for this part of the data. According to the firm, the re-accreditation marks a 'significant achievement' because the services now include Portable People Meter (PPM) measurement, as well as household and person-level estimates where the VA methodology is deployed (in 19 Set Meter + PPM markets, as well as in its national ratings service). Nielsen says this signals the MRC's formal acceptance of its use of the VA methodology.

George Ivie (pictured), Executive Director and CEO of the MRC, comments: 'We look forward to working with Nielsen in its ongoing work to continuously improve the quality of these and other services in its measurement product portfolio, and to provide the transparency into these services that is required by the industry to have the confidence it needs in how well its advertising and programming investments are measured'.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.mediaratingcouncil.org .