Ratings Watchdog Forsees Nielsen Upgrades

TV ratings are not like the weather. If you complain about them, somebody will do something about it — or at least try to. That somebody is the Media Ratings Council, a 48-year-old group of media companies (electronic and print) and media agencies that monitors, audits, accredits and otherwise tries to keep Nielsen and other measurement services honest.

The CEO is George Ivie who manages three fulltime and one part-time professionals in New York. And the current chairman is TV broadcasting's own Billy McDowell, VP of research for Raycom Media, operator of 36 full-power and two low-power TV stations in 36 markets.

Last week, while in New York for the annual meeting of the 132-member MRC board, McDowell took time to discuss with TVNewsCheck Editor Harry A. Jessell the state of local TV ratings, including Nielsen's efforts to better them, the value of ratings based on set-top data and his no-compromise position in the feud between broadcasters and media agencies over the truest measure of local TV audiences.

An edited transcript:

Nielsen's last big local measurement initiative was the substitution of local people meters for diaries in the top 25 markets. Is everybody now happy with the LPMs?

I wouldn’t characterize it as happy. There’s always issues. It’s been widely reported that there have been some sample size issues, that they're limited. They’ve been able to increase the samples in New York and L.A. and that helps, but you’re always pushing the envelope when it comes to needing more samples in markets. That becomes expensive and hard to accomplish so we look for alternatives in that, too.

Other than the sample size, are there any other concerns with the LPMs?

None that I could really go into here, but we’re always monitoring what they’re doing. Individual markets have issues from time to time and they call on the MRC to help them out in interpreting it, understanding the methodology, suggesting improvements.

What are you hearing from Nielsen on what it’s doing to improve diaries in the majority of markets that still rely on them to one extent or another?

They’re still trying to figure out the diary markets. They’re working on a lot of improvements, some that we have suggested, some they’re doing entirely on their own. I know that sample size is an issue there as well. They have been public about their set-top box initiatives and we will see where it all goes.

I think that there will be diary measurement for some time and I think that we really do need to improve that, but not only the diary instrument itself. It’s really good at going into a local market and determining which stations are leaders in the market and things like that. Trying to predict what ratings are going to be at a quarter hour on a certain program in a certain demo is where it really becomes problematic. It’s too granular for the diary system as a whole. So if we could learn to use the diary information a little more responsibly.

In an earlier interview with Nielsen's Steve Hasker, he said they are going to use set-top box data to supplement the diary information and come up with an amalgamation that’s going to be better. That’s essentially the idea?

That's right [laughs]. I hope they buy it.

Why do you chuckle? Is that a disappointment? Would you have hoped that they would do something different? Do you have any better ideas?   

Actually, we do struggle with that because not only are you looking for the perfect methodology to be able to measure all the nuances of what’s going on in a market, but you have to do that at a reasonable economic level so that stations can participate. We can come up with all kinds of grand ideas, but unless they’re affordable and you're able to implement them, they're no good.

In the hybrid markets — 26 to 56 — you get a mix of household meter data on a daily basis and the demo data from diaries during sweeps. I guess that is much better than just diaries, right?

Right. Actually the household meter is a pretty good tool because it’s one of those passive measurements. So the problem there is also sample size ... and one thing that Nielsen is finding is that you want more stability in the measurement, but the other part of that is you need a proper representation of these markets ... to make sure that they’re properly represented in the methodology.

Are there any special issues with those meter/diary markets?

Yeah. I can't get into specifics, but again Nielsen is looking to improve all their measurements and there’s a lot of ideas being floated around right now. The set-top box information that you guys talked about is probably among the most imminent.