Citing new research quality initiatives, Nielsen Media Research Thursday reported that so-called "fault rates," or the percentage of homes in its sample that report complete TV ratings data for any
given day, have fallen markedly over the past several months in three of the four markets that added local people meter services in 2004. Fault rates have fallen in New York (-10.4 percent), Chicago
(-24.7 percent), and San Francisco (-22.4 percent), between November 2004 and May 2005, Nielsen said. Faults rose 1.6 percent in Los Angeles during the same period. Fault rates for African American
households fell considerably in all four markets, and declined for Hispanic households for all but the New York market. -- J.M.
