Nielsen People Meters To Serve Top 10 U.S. TV Markets.

With strong backing from key broadcasting and cable clients, Nielsen Media Research announced a rollout schedule for bringing continuous, overnight demographic ratings into the top 10 television markets in the U.S. Nielsen said it would launch electronic People Meter ratings service in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco next year.

People Meter service will be expanded to include Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Detroit and Dallas-Ft. Worth in 2005, and Atlanta the following year.

Nielsen announced support from NBC, ABC, Comcast, Time Warner Cable in N.Y. and L.A. and Adlink in L.A. for the local People Meter service.

The Nielsen People Meter will replace the current meter-diary measurement system in the top 10 markets. This is expected to have a major impact on every aspect of the television business. Local People Meters will enable media executives to buy and sell commercial time and make programming, scheduling and promotional decisions continuously, instead of waiting for sweeps months for the demographic ratings.

The top 10 television markets include nearly 32 million TV households, or 30 percent of all U.S. television households. More than $8 billion is spent just on local television advertising in the top 10 markets.

At the same time, Nielsen Media Research announced how it intends to nearly double the size of the National People Meter Sample over the next four years. The National People Meter Sample produces the ratings that are the currency for all broadcast and cable networks and national syndication sales.

“These initiatives reflect Nielsen Media Research’s commitment to its clients that the television industry will always be the best measured medium of audience delivery,” said Susan D. Whiting, President and Chief Executive Officer for Nielsen Media Research.

“In addition to our clients in Boston, where the first local People Meter service was introduced last year,” said Whiting, “we are delighted that the ABC Stations, NBC, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Adlink have agreed to support the expansion of continuous demographic ratings services into the major local markets. We are convinced that our People Meter service will have a very positive impact on the economy of these television markets.”

Local People Meter Service
According to the rollout plan, Los Angeles will be the next local People Meter market – no later than by early 2004 – followed by New York, Chicago and San Francisco in that same year. Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Detroit and Dallas-Ft. Worth will follow in 2005, and Atlanta in 2006. People Meter measurement in Boston, the sixth-largest market, began last year.

NBC will support Nielsen People Meter service in its owned-station markets: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

The ABC Television Stations agreed to support Nielsen People Meter service for its owned television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. “Our decision to support the rollout of Nielsen’s Local People Meter service reflects our commitment to work with Nielsen as it continually evolves and improves local television measurement in an increasingly complex viewing environment,” said Pat Liguori, Vice President, Research, for the ABC Owned Television Stations. “We believe it’s important to maintain the value and relevancy of the currency used within our industry, something that can be accomplished in part by our support of Nielsen’s Local People Meter service.”

Nielsen also said that Comcast, the largest cable television service provider in the U.S., has agreed to support Nielsen People Meter service in all of the top 10 markets, including Boston where it already subscribes to the service.

“Comcast Ad Sales is committed to leading the cable industry in an effort to help advertisers and their agencies more efficiently and effectively target customers,” said Charlie Thurston, President, Comcast Ad Sales. “This key agreement with Nielsen marks an important first step in our endeavor and signifies a major commitment by the broadcast and cable communities to more accurately measure TV viewership.”

Time Warner Cable, the second largest cable television service provider in the U.S., has agreed to support Nielsen People Meter service in the New York City market area and Los Angeles, as well as other markets where Time Warner Cable has services. “We look forward to Local People Meters so that local cable can be more accurately measured demographically,” said Phyllis Leibert who is Director of Research Ad Sales for Time Warner Cable.

Adlink, the cable interconnect in Los Angeles, has agreed to support Nielsen People Meter service in L.A. Adlink reaches 3.4 million cable households in the Los Angeles market and is the nation’s leading interconnect. “This is great news for anyone involved with television advertising in the Los Angeles market,” said Jane K. Collins, Vice President, Research, at Adlink. “Adlink has anticipated Local People Meters for a very long time. We look forward to this important step, which will improve audience measurement and give us all a more accurate demographic profile of television viewing in L.A.”

Expansion of National People Meter Sample
Nielsen also is expanding the size of its National People Meter Sample. The present national sample of approximately 5,000 households will grow to nearly 10,000 households when the expansion is completed in 2006. As part of the sample expansion plan, when local People Meter service is introduced into each of the top 10 markets, Nielsen will include these homes, on a weighted basis, into the National Sample.

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