• by Dana Blankenhorn , March 6, 2003

Data on advertising will increasingly come through technology, as viewers resist telephone surveys and diaries that take time to fill out.

That means the amount of raw survey data is rising, not falling. The challenge is to maintain its statistical validity, said Scott Brown, senior vice president for Nielsen Media Research.

In the short run, money helps collect intrusive data, Brown said. Nielsen is paying $5 for completed diaries, he admitted after a AAAA Media Conference panel on technology moderated by publisher Steve Forbes in New Orleans. “You hate to do that,” but money does help generate cooperation.

“Our cooperation rates have actually risen a little,” although with the rate in the mid-30s it’s still worrisome. The lower the cooperation rate, the less valid the results become.

The rest of the survey industry, which depends heavily on the telephone, is worried. Industry groups like CASRO and CEMOR hope national “do not call” lists will cut telemarketing, and make people more receptive to surveys

But folks like Ronald Nielsen, president of NSON Opinion Research, admitted that they’re worried. “It’s something we have to deal with,” he said.

One way to deal with it is to make it fun. Three aisles from the NSON booth Steve Walsh, vice president-sales with Intermedia Advertising Group, showed off RewardTv.Com, a survey site masquerading as a trivia game.

The site offers prizes and points, but they’re modest. The trivia questions involve shows, product placements and ads viewers saw the previous night. Echoing Brown, Walsh doesn’t want the hope of reward to skew the statistics.

Newer technology will make data collection automatic and more reliable, Brown said. This starts when Nielsen rolls out its people meters next year. The meters pick up viewing habits through a TV remote and a chip inside the digital set-top.

Things will also improve as Internet “cookie” technology is embedded into radio and TV programming streams so viewing choices are detected automatically, he added. This is how Nielsen will stay on top of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) like TiVo.

”We’ve developed software agents, applications we get embedded into things like TiVo and Replay,” Brown said during the AAAA panel. “Now that agent isn’t on unless you’re selected for sample. But the purpose was to simplify measurement, to make it easier and less invasive.”

The technology TiVo pioneered is going to become a standard feature on cable set-tops, he added. “The model will be, bring your set top in, and we’ll trade it out. I can see Nielsen required to provide viewer profiles - what was set up to be recorded, what was actually played back, how much of it was played back – that may be what happens.”

When it happens, the statistical validity of the data will be more important than the data itself, he concluded. “Don’t confuse set top data with what Nielsen produces,” he noted. “Be wary.”