• by Wayne Friedman , July 13, 2005

Showing further evidence that its Local People Meter data doesn't undercount minorities, Nielsen Media Research released data that there was high viewership among African Americans during the NBA finals.

Nielsen said the seven-game NBA Finals on ABC reached a quarter of all adults in the six new LPM markets and up to half of all African American adults.

The TV research company said more than half of all African American adults in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco watched at least part of the NBA Finals, which Nielsen said was about twice as high as the overall viewing by the total population in those two markets. It also said in each of the four other LPM markets -- New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles -- more than 40 percent of all adult African Americans watched some of the NBA Finals.

Nielsen also notes the NBA rating among African Americans was double digits in every LPM market, peaking at 17.8 in Los Angeles. African American viewing of the NBA Finals in all six LPM markets was more than eight times higher than that of any other June sporting event.

Critics of Nielsen's LPM system including the Don't Count Us Out organization, a coalition of minority groups that is backed by News Corp., still insist Nielsen underreports minority viewers. For its part, Nielsen defends its new methodology -- but as a hedge, it announced in February a set of initiatives in response to a wide range of clients' complaints.

A week ago, a report by Bradenton, Fla.-research company erinMedia, LLC, chimed in recently saying there are fundamental flaws in Nielsen's LPM methodology.

As part of its analysis, erinMedia showed off some early NBA playoff games as evidence, contests that were played between April 28 and May 25. It showed, for example, that for several games viewership among African-American homes in Washington, DC., generally showed lower numbers vs. that of traditional set-top boxes.

For a Thursday game aired on ABC, LPM viewers were 16.5 percent lower than set-top boxes, coming in at an 11.5 rating, according to erinMedia. A Sunday game showed LPM ratings 41.4 percent lower than the ratings from the traditional set-top boxes.

Still there was other conflicting news. For a particular Saturday night NBA playoff game on ABC there was a slight increase, 4.0% to a 17.6 rating among African-American homes using the LPM system.

That wasn't the only program benefiting from LPMs, according to erinMedia. Fox's "American Idol" actually pointed to higher numbers with LPMs, nearly a 7 percent improvement to a 27.3 rating. "Idol" was also a factor on a "Primetime Live Special," in which the ABC news show examined the talent and judges of "American Idol." That show experienced more than a 9 percent improvement with LPMs, rising to a 19.2 rating.

Executives at erinMedia, Don't Count Us Out and Nielsen Media Research did not return phone calls by press time.