July 07, 2004
Nielsen Releases TRPI Study
Someone at Nielsen Media Research has been reading TMB. How do I know? Well, after openly wondering in my post yesterday just when Nielsen planned on publicly releasing the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute report, they indeed released it today. Here is the news release, and you can download the full report here.
Some brief history and context on this: Back in February, research firm Rincon & Associates was commissioned by the National Latino Media Coalition (leaders of the Don't Count Us Out horde) to scrutinize Nielsen Media Research's approach in sampling and recruiting Latino households as part of its TV ratings system. The final report was very critical of Nielsen's methodology, and the study has since been cited and used as artillery by the anti-Nielsen faction as evidence of People Meters' fundamental flaws in properly tracking the TV viewing habits of ethnic households.
Nielsen -- believing the study's results were biased -- countered by contracting the estimable Tomas Rivera Policy Institute to carefully examine Rincon & Associates' results.
TMB will spend some time (if I can find any) perusing the report, but in the meantime, here is an excerpt from the press release:
- The TRPI team that reviewed the controversial survey found no documented proof to support assertions that People Meters do not reliably measure Latino viewing behavior. Moreover, the study determined that Rincon's own study sample was less accurate than the NLMC had claimed in numerous news accounts. However, Harry Pachon, Ph.D., TRPI President cautioned that, "media organizations like Nielsen and Rincon need to be mindful of the changing demographics and nuances that are present in our minority communities."
More from me later -- gotz lots of great stuff ahead. Including inside tips from a congressional staffer on the Hill!
Posted by thomas at July 7, 2004 12:55 PM | TrackBack