Nielsen to ignore Media Ratings Council

[davideduardo]

Per Variety, "Nielsen is requesting that the Media Rating Council put a hold on its accreditation, saying it plans to focus on modernizing its core national ratings service, though networks and agencies will likely continue using the company's tools. The MRC had intended to decide Nielsen's status at an upcoming meeting, and notes that it still hasn't ruled on the request."

Full story: Nielsen, Under Pressure and Under Audit, Takes Hiatus From Industry Backing

 

[PTBoardOp94]

This just in:
Monopoly does monopoly things. Film at 11 on Action News Nightbeat

 

[TheBigA]

In the meantime, clients are expected to pay full rate regardless of the company's status with the MRC.

 

[davideduardo]

In the meantime, clients are expected to pay full rate regardless of the company's status with the MRC.

Of course, accreditation does not reduce the costs. Nielsen is trying to avoid the upcoming problems with PPM panel disproportionality due to the lack of processors to build replacement meters. We are already seeing panel deficiencies in several markets like Miami and Houston.

This is going to affect the further roll out of the meter in TV and new media as well. A number of proposed changes in panel terminology and classification have been postponed by at least a year.

Of course, Houston has not been accredited for years anyway and it did not make any difference to buyers.

 

[davideduardo]

This just in:
Monopoly does monopoly things. Film at 11 on Action News Nightbeat

The problem is that stations buy the ratings service that agencies use. That is what killed Pulse and Hooper and thwarted efforts by ones like Birch, Audits & Surveys and others along the way.

Nielsen acts like a company that is losing money in many of its smaller markets; look for them to trim even more in the next year or two.

 

[Don CT]

Cant they just take receiver data to tell what a household is watching? Anonymously send the data back to the mothership.

 

[davideduardo]

Cant they just take receiver data to tell what a household is watching? Anonymously send the data back to the mothership.

Nielsen rates individuals as well as households, so they need to know who in a dwelling unit is watching. That means that each individual will indicate separately via diary or their meter what they are doing.

It's unlikely that most people would want their television "wired" to participate; it might even invalidate warranties as I don't believe that many TV's have a data output that would give that data.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

It's unlikely that most people would want their television "wired" to participate; it might even invalidate warranties as I don't believe that many TV's have a data output that would give that data.

Most modern TVs collect viewing data surreptitiously. I assume most cable/satellite boxes phone home to their companies too.

How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features - Consumer Reports

TVs collect a huge amount of data. Here's how to use privacy settings to limit the surveillance on TVs from LG, Samsung, TCL, and every other big brand.

www.consumerreports.org