• by Joe Mandese , May 10, 2004

Nielsen Media Research, which is bracing for a new found of attacks against its local people meter rollout from an influential pressure group, Monday announced a step intended to dispel some concerns over the accuracy of its measurement of ethnic viewers. Nielsen said it has contracted one of the premiere independent Latino policy research organizations, University of Southern California's Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, to review the findings of the National Hispanic Media Council's Latino Television Study.

That study, which questioned Nielsen's measurement of Latino viewers, was conducted by Rincon & Associates and has generated controversy regarding both its methodology and results. Policy-makers cited the Rincon study as a reason for delaying the launch of Nielsen's local people meters in New York City and other major markets.

Nielsen said it has attempted to discuss its concerns about the survey's methodology with Rincon, but Rincon has refused to meet or cancelled scheduled meetings.

The effort follows Nielsen's decision to delay the rollout of people meters in New York to next month from April due to concerns raised by policy makers and public interest groups over its representation and accuracy in measuring Hispanic and African Americans.

Meanwhile, the highly influential Don't Count Us Out Coalition, which has been credited with turning much of the heat on Nielsen's New York people meter effort, is said to be ramping up campaigns to challenge the rollout of people meters in Chicago and Los Angeles, two markets that Nielsen delayed rollouts on its own accord to ensure that its samples were sufficiently representative.

While ad community has generally sat silently on the sidelines during the highly political maneuvering surrounding the local people meter debate, Madison Avenue has been a strong supporter of the people meter technology. The American Association of Advertising Agencies is expected to release a statement endorsing the use of local people meters soon.