June 25, 2004

Nielsen President: "Fox Plays The Race Card"

Susan Whiting, the President/CEO of Nielsen Media Research -- the beleaguered media ratings provider that has occupied a prominent space over here in TMB over the past month-and-a-half -- pens a response to Nielsen's critics in today's L.A. Times. Highlights:

    So what's the problem? It's true that under the ratings measured by the people meter, not as many people of color are watching certain UPN programs with African American themes or Fox shows with mainstream themes. Instead, people of color — like everyone else these days — are watching a wider variety of programming, including niche cable networks, which people meters are picking up.

    Since lower ratings means lower advertising revenue, News Corp. has responded with a campaign against Nielsen and people meters that has played the race card again and again. Its actions contrast significantly with those of other TV groups like CBS, Univision and Tribune, which — despite their varying concerns about the roll-out of local people meters — have not funded any campaigns against the system.

If you read the whole thing (which I encourage you to do if you're following this soap opera), she also discusses what the leaked E&Y audit means and contrasts the new people meter technology with the obsolete handwritten diary system. Interestingly enough, there's no mention of Univision or its lawsuit in this editorial -- not even an attempt to address Univision's contention about mis-sampled Spanish-speaking households. Nope, this one's aimed squarely at Rupert.

Posted by thomas at June 25, 2004 12:40 PM | TrackBack