Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies joins Media Rating Council.

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) joined the Media Rating Council (MRC), an industry-funded self-regulatory body that audits and accredits audience rating services. The AHAA Board of Directors unanimously approved membership in the Council to ensure accurate representation of the Hispanic market in audience measurement. Valid, reliable data is critical to advertising agencies and AHAA’s MRC membership provides a voice for the organization’s primary members in the endorsement and quality improvement of ratings’ services.

The Council, comprising more than 110 members representing television and radio broadcasting, cable, print, Internet and advertising agency organizations, as well as advertisers and trade associations, seeks to provide a better understanding of the applications and limitations of rating information. The MRC establishes the ethical criteria for media audience measurement services and accepted standards for ratings operations. The Council mandates rating services to disclose many methodology and performance measures, which would be otherwise unknown. Organizations such as Nielsen or Arbitron that provide media ratings are not allowed to be MRC members.

As an MRC Board member, AHAA may participate in hearings, discussions and audits to provide comments on behalf of its agency members. “AHAA has been actively involved in monitoring and influencing media ratings systems since Nielsen’s move to electronic measurement,” says Gisela Girard, AHAA chair and president/COO of Creative Civilization. “As an industry, we are in favor of technological advancements and more precise measurement of media performance; however, our concern remains focused on accurate representation of the Latino consumer.

“Our agencies and members depend on consistently sound data on which to plan and purchase media whether online, radio, television, cable, or print. Advertisers rely on our agencies to provide justifiable rationale and statistics that will deliver consumers and sales for their investments. We also encourage more AHAA member agencies to consider joining the MRC independently to further improve minority involvement in the auditing process.”

AHAA has been active most recently in addressing Arbitron’s PPM ratings and online measurement establishing member task forces to address the issues relative to radio and the Internet respectively. AHAA has met with Arbitron regarding the PPM sample quality and size of Hispanic listeners and remains earnest in its attempts to collaboratively resolve issues with PPM. The seat on the MRC Board allows AHAA to formally assess and render its opinion on the accuracy of PPM sampling and methodology as well as other media ratings services. While MRC accreditation is not mandatory for any media ratings system, the independent audits are designed to yield higher performance and better results to benefit the entire industry.

“The MRC is extremely pleased with AHAA’s decision to become a member of MRC and make its voice heard in our process” states George Ivie, CEO/Executive Director MRC, “as AHAA represents two important constituencies, advertising agencies and minority interests. We applaud AHAA for its proactive stance and for encouraging its members to independently consider membership as this will increase their voice in our mission to secure audience estimates that are valid, reliable, and effective across all segments of the population.”

“AHAA is encouraging each of our members to consider joining the MRC and participating in the audit process,” Girard says. “Hispanic-specialized marketing has skyrocketed in the past several years and continues to grow despite the recession. “We need precise media measurement tools to ensure our continued targeted reach of the Latino consumer is accurate and that our concerns are addressed effectively.”