• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 8, 2012

The Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence (CRE) said it will look at ways to upgrade the diary measurement process – which continues in small markets -- by using comparisons with larger markets that use advanced Nielsen technology. So the research will at least partly turn Dallas and Albuquerque-Santa Fe into diary markets.

Part of the search is to determine whether set-top-box (STB) data would help provide better data in diary markets such as Alexandria, La. and Rapid City, S.D. and dozens of other markets -- as well as to determine ways to track viewing on non-TV devices in homes that may not be considered TV homes by Nielsen.

This is to some extent in line with what Nielsen is looking to do with regard to adding some STB data into its ratings via a new product that could come out as soon as this fall.

In the CRE study, Dallas (a local people meter market); Albuquerque (a people meter market); and a Paducah, Ky. market (diary) will be employed. The trio were selected because of various factors such as the amount of homes without pay-TV service and demographic makeup. There are also issues involving homes with cell phone users.

This month, a group of homes in Dallas will use a diary method and non-TV homes in all three test markets will use a “modified diary.” Homes without TV sets in all markets will be sent a questionnaire and asked whether they have another viewing source. Those who respond “yes” will be sent a “modified diary” and asked to track viewing on the alternate devices.

(Dallas has been identified in previous CRE research as a market with a large number of non-TV homes.) 

Data collected in conjunction with Research Triangle Inc. will be compared to standard Nielsen LPM, metered and diary market information in pursuit of ways to upgrade.

Ceril Shagrin, executive vice president at Univision Communications, who serves as chair of the CRE, stated that there is a need to learn “whether return-path data can improve diary measurement, and how much ‘TV program’ viewing is now done -- and on what devices -- in what are currently defined as ‘non-TV homes.’ 

“By making comparisons of diary-based measurement to meter-based measurement and set-top-box information-- and conducting specific follow-up studies with non-responding as well as non-TV homes-- this effort should provide new insights into responders and non-responders of the address-based sampling diary service,” she added.