Univision Responds To Nielsen Media Research Launch LPM In New York.

Univision Communications Inc. issued the following statement in response to Nielsen Media Research’s decision to implement Local People Meter (LPM) service in New York on Thursday, June 3, 2004:

“We are astounded that Nielsen has decided to proceed with implementation of its LPM service in New York despite overwhelming evidence that the sample is fundamentally flawed and in the face of the Media Ratings Council’s (MRC) recent decision to withhold accreditation for the LPM service citing ‘noncompliance’ with MRC standards and other ‘performance issues.’

During the two-month period that Nielsen delayed the launch of its LPM service in New York, it did nothing to address sample issues and failed to establish a Task Force to review the situation as it had promised. Instead, Nielsen wasted time by engaging in an image campaign to shield itself from public criticism. Today’s announcement by Nielsen stating it will launch the LPM system while maintaining the existing meter diary system for an additional three months will confuse advertisers and the public, waste time and money with duplicative and conflicting data, and debase the value of Nielsen research.

Nielsen’s own data indicates that the sample on which it will base its LPM ratings is fundamentally flawed in that it contains: 1) too few young Hispanic-Americans; 2) too many small Hispanic-American households; and 3) too many Hispanic-American households that speak mostly or only English, among other substantial deficiencies. Therefore, the LPM ratings will materially understate viewing to Spanish-language stations like Univision, and exaggerate viewing to English-language stations. This disparity will not only provide false guidance to advertisers and marketers trying to determine how best to reach the young Hispanic demographic, but it will also mask the market’s diversity and jeopardize the future availability of entertainment programming and news information dedicated to minority audiences.

As the nation’s sole television monitoring service, Nielsen has a duty to viewers, advertisers, stations and networks to ensure the fairness and accuracy of its methodologies before implementation. A rollout of the LPM service in New York City at this time is a serious breach of that duty.”