• by May 28, 2004

THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT ON (770) BROADWAY -- In the beginning it was all about research. Then it was about business. Then race. Even politics. Now it seems the debate surrounding Nielsen's New York people meters, has become all about show business. No, we don't mean the business of TV shows, which essentially is what all of Nielsen's TV ratings are about. We mean the Media Rating Council's decision to withhold accreditation of the New York people meter service. Apparently, Nielsen's New York production number just didn't get good enough reviews from the critics at the MRC. "They had the opportunity to wow us and they just didn't do it," said one member, invoking a theater industry metaphor. "They already played in Peoria. That was Boston. It just wasn't up to the standards of Broadway."

Since the Riff didn't actually get to sit in on the performance, we have no idea whether it was musical or a drama, but we do know the result was no comedy. In fact it was a tragedy, says one agency executive member of the MRC committee. "It's a scandal," he says. "Every single person in this business, whether they are on the station side or the cable side or the agency side, knows that people meters are better than diaries. I mean, even a faulty people meter system is still better than a perfect diary system, because a diary system can't ever be perfect."

Despite that, the Television Committee of the MRC Thursday voted to withhold accreditation of the New York people meter service until Nielsen can prove it meets the MRC's "Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research."

But the vote also may have been about some no-show business as well. Timing it as it did when agency research execs were jammed up with the network upfront, wasn't the best idea said some agency executives who believe that may have titled the outcome of the vote against accreditation.

Other members of the committee say the vote wasn't so much a withholding of accreditation, as much as it was a "delay" in the process. The MRC committee fully expects to ultimately accredit the service, but given the extremely powerful spotlight the debate has been under, including a Congressional review, he said the group felt a hard line was more appropriate than a softer one.

Now the big question is what does all that business mean for New York's TV ad business, which for the first time in the history of the MRC, will have a TV ratings currency that is not accredited. Insiders say that is more symbolic than actionable, and that people will buy and sell off the new people meter data in much the same way they did with the old diary/set-meter data, except that they'll have real-time, continuous overnight ratings to work with.