• by June 9, 2005

THE PRESS RELEASE DOTH PROMOTE TOO MUCH - You know those local people meters Nielsen's been rolling out in major TV markets nationwide that have been causing so many conniptions? The ones that certain major broadcast groups have been trying to derail, ostensibly because of a faulty methodology or lousy samples? Well, as it turns out, they're reporting that many more people are watching TV than the old meter/diary system they've replaced. At least they are in New York, one of the first markets to be converted to the new meters, affectionately known as LPMs. How do we know this? Because Nielsen told us so in a press release issued on Thursday.

As interesting as the finding is, we're even more interested in why Nielsen would tout the fact. Sure, everyone wins - advertisers, agencies and especially TV outlets - when Nielsen ratings report higher TV usage levels, but normally people on Madison Avenue like that to occur because, well, people are watching more TV, not because Nielsen changed its ratings methods. Of course, it's probably better for everyone concerned that the difference was in a positive direction. Imagine the hue and cry if the new meters were actually reporting lower TV usage levels? But we'd all be better off if Nielsen didn't try to draw too many comparisons between the old meters and the new ones. It just raises too many questions about which ones are right. Or whether either of them is.

That said, Nielsen says the data indicate "9.1 percent more people watched television in May 2005 than in May 2004." Among all adult viewers, the demographic group that showed the largest increase was men 18-49, though African American viewers also showed a big jump via the new system. Of course, Nielsen explains the phenomenon by the fact that LPMs are simply "able to detect larger numbers of viewers with greater precision because they electronically record the viewing of all household members on a continuous basis."