Policy Committee Demands Full Ratings Disclosure

ORLANDO - In a move that has big implications for the way in which the media report their audience ratings to the ad industry, the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Policy Committee Wednesday called for "full disclosure in traditional media, especially TV ratings."

"In the end, we want commercial ratings, not program averages," Jean Pool, executive vice president-COO of Universal McCann, and chair of the AAAA committee, said here during her opening remarks Wednesday morning.

Jon Mandel, chairman and co-CEO of MediaCom USA, and a member of the committee, told MediaDailyNews that the accountability move--rumored for several weeks--is now an imperative because of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies to fully disclose financial-related information publicly. Because ratings data function as de facto currencies in the media buying world, Mandel implied they fall under that law.

Mandel made that comment while seated next to Susan Whiting, CEO of TV ratings giant Nielsen Media Research, who said, "But we disclose everything we do."

advertisement

advertisement

Nielsen, in fact, has embarked on a series of initiatives to provide greater disclosure of its data and access to its databases, including new applications that enable some clients to generate minute-by-minute ratings, which are a close proxy for commercial ratings.

But by calling on the media to provide such disclosures directly, the AAAA committee appears to be making the media directly accountable for the data that is used as the basis of their advertising buys.

Noting that industry studies have shown relatively little difference between program average ratings and the minute-by-minute ratings, UM's Pool said the media have no reason not to disclose the information, lest they give the appearances of "trying to hide some dirty little secret."

Next story loading loading..