Nielsen Media Research Files Motion Opposing Univision’s Complaint.

Nielsen Media Research, Inc., filed an opposition to the motion for preliminary injunction by Univision Communications, Inc., Univision Television Group, Inc., and Telefutura Television Group, Inc., collectively known as Univision. Nielsen filed the opposition at Los Angeles State Superior Court, where Univision earlier this month filed its motion to block Nielsen’s introduction of Local People Meters (LPM) in Los Angeles on July 8.

In its filing, Nielsen said that Univision “seeks to prevent the L.A. market’s use of a modernized, improved and more accurate system that is already in use nationally across the United States and locally in New York and Boston, because it results in lower ratings for some of Univision’s programs. Univision seeks to influence what should be an impartial system of measuring viewers, in order to maintain inflated, less accurate ratings for certain of its programs over those of its competitors whose ratings are rising.”

Nielsen says that Univision’s motion should be denied due to, among other reasons, the superior quality of rating data that LPM offers. Nielsen’s filing notes that, “the new LPM viewer sample was selected using the same reliable and established methodology that Nielsen has used for decades in its national and regional markets. The new system is even more reliable and accurate than the system that favors – and is favored by – Univision, and the sample is more representative of L.A. market demographics than the status quo.”

The filing included a declaration by Paul Donato, Nielsen’s Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer, that “Univision has made false and misleading contentions about our LPM sample composition, our weighting procedures, and the differences between the ratings generated by the current system and LPM.” Donato cited these examples:

Univision’s discussion of ratings differences between the methodology used currently and the scheduled LPM services is misleading. Nielsen’s data show that the unsurpassed accuracy of LPM technology reveals a larger audience for Spanish-language programming around the clock and during prime time, a larger audience of men 18-34 years old for Spanish-language programming during prime time, and only a modest drop in women 18-34 years old during prime time.

Although Univision challenges Nielsen’s LPM sample and its subcomponents, it ignores the fact that the sample and its subcomponents are larger and more adequate than those employed in the methodology used currently.

While Univision attacks the LPM weighting procedures, it fails to note that the procedures under challenge are substantially the same procedures that Nielsen already uses in Los Angeles.

Univision mischaracterizes the delays in Nielsen’s introduction of its LPM service in Los Angeles during the last seven months by asserting that the service has deficiencies. In fact, Nielsen has used this time to improve its LPM service. The delays demonstrate Nielsen’s commitment to providing fair and reliable ratings in its new LPM service.

Nielsen’s filing in summary declares that Nielsen’s methods for choosing and maintaining its samples is an open book, as Univision’s head of research, Ceril Shagrin, is well aware.