Nielsen establishes U.S. Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council.

The Nielsen Company announced the formation of a national Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council (HLAC), a new independent advisory group established to help inform and enhance the Company’s efforts to recruit, measure and accurately report on Hispanic television households in the U.S. The first meeting of the HLAC is scheduled for March 4, 2008 in New York.

“Nielsen is committed to pursuing outreach efforts that are as diverse as the communities we serve in order to ensure that every viewing choice counts in the television ratings system,” said Catherine Herkovic, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, National Television Client Services at Nielsen. “By providing invaluable third-party insight and expertise on the Hispanic community, the Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council will have an important role in helping us successfully achieve these goals.”

“The U.S. Hispanic population has grown 19.4 percent in the last five years, and by 2050 it is estimated that one in every four people in the U.S. will be of Hispanic descent,” said Ernest Bromley, President and CEO of Bromley Communications and a member of Nielsen’s HLAC. “Nielsen should be commended for establishing this Council, which will be an important forum for representatives of the Hispanic community to share their thoughts on the issues that are most important to our businesses and our communities.”

The HLAC is comprised of industry, community, and business leaders drawn from across the U.S. They include:

1. Jenny Alonzo, Executive Vice President, Marketing/Brand of Mio.TV
2. Dr. Juan Andrade, President and Executive Director of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI)
3. Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the School of Medicine, UCLA
4. Ernest W. Bromley, Chairman and CEO of Bromley Communications
5. Jose del Cueto, CEO of Del Cueto Media Group
6. Guarione M. Diaz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cuban American National Council, Inc.
7. Dr. Henry Flores, Senior Policy Analyst, William C. Velasquez Institute
8. Luís A. Miranda, Jr., Managing Partner of The MirRam Group, Inc.
9. Lillian Rodríguez López, President of the Hispanic Federation
10. Catherine M. Pino, Co-Founder & Principal of D&P Creative Strategies
11. Susana Valdez, Chief of Staff to Mayor Manny Diaz, City of Miami

According to Nielsen, Hispanics remain the fastest-growing national segment of the population, with television households increasing by 4.4 percent in 2007 vs. the previous year.

Nielsen has implemented a number of quality initiatives to improve the training of its bilingual field recruitment staff, the translations of its materials for Hispanic television households and its understanding of the diverse Hispanic communities across the country. Last year the Company also established a first-of-its-kind relationship with the nationally recognized Hispanic research and policy organization, the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI). Their academic team of nationally recognized Latino social scientists worked with Nielsen to analyze all aspects of the Nielsen measurement system, including systems design, sampling, recruitment and field training.