• by Joe Mandese , May 3, 2006

Nielsen and News Corp. have buried the hatchet in their long-running feud surrounding the rollout of local people meters, and along with it, Don't Count Us Out, the News Corp.-funded anti-Nielsen pressure group that stirred up much of the press, community and political noise surrounding the local meters. While no official statements have been issued, insiders say the relationship between News Corp. and Nielsen has warmed considerably, that the two companies are talking about a new deal, and that the efforts of DCUO are essentially "dormant" as Nielsen prepares to deploy the 10th and final LPM market - Atlanta - completing its original plan. However, MediaDailyNews has learned that the truce comes as Nielsen finalizes an internal plan to expand the controversial local people meters to at least several more key markets beyond the top 10 over the next few years, as part of a strategy to expand electronic measurement more deeply into local TV markets.

After Atlanta, which will officially become an LPM market in July, Nielsen will likely expand the meters into at least four or five of the next top markets. To date, Nielsen has deployed the LPMs in New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Boston; San Francisco; Dallas; Washington, DC; and Houston. The next five markets Nielsen would presumably target are: Detroit, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Seattle-Tacoma, Phoenix, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

It's unclear exactly when Nielsen will go public with the plans, but the ratings researcher is poised to announce details of an ambitious new research agenda proposed to clients in a letter from CEO Susan Whiting on Feb. 17. In that letter, Whiting said Nielsen would deliver those details within 90 days.

The plan doesn't just cover improvements to local TV audience measurement, but also deals with many other aspects of audience measurement, including the integration of broadband video, commercial ratings and engagement.

As part of the local measurement plan, Nielsen is expected to deploy new, less expansive methods beyond the top markets - possibly the "mailable" electronic meters the researcher has been testing over the past year.

As for its détente with News Corp., and the ease up of advocacy group Don't Count Us Out, those shifts are believed to be due to several factors, including some organizational changes within Fox, as well as the TV marketplace's acceptance of LPMs as the official trading currency in the markets where LPMs have been used. Additionally, Fox has been performing well in Nielsen's ratings, and may not have wanted to undermine the value of its currency.

Another likely factor was the transition of some key Fox stations from ethnic skewing UPN affiliates to My TV Network affiliates following CBS' and Time Warner's decision to merge UPN and The WB into CW and to jilt the Fox stations as affiliates.

The bottom line is that Don't Count Us Out has essentially been inactive since late last year, and public relations and lobbying executives who previously worked on the effort say they are no longer involved. They referred calls to a News Corp. spokesperson who did not return MDN's call.