• by Paul Gough , April 15, 2004

Nielsen's chief executive acknowledged Thursday that the company believed Fox Broadcasting was behind the moves against the local people meter in New York.

"It's been well-documented and written in many publications about the really unprecedented campaign," said Susan Whiting, president and chief executive officer of the TV ratings company, during an interview Thursday afternoon at the annual meeting of the Television Bureau of Advertising on Manhattan's West Side. Was Fox behind the campaign, she was asked.

"Yes," said Whiting, who told the audience of mostly local television advertising executives that most of Nielsen's other clients have been in favor of the change from paper-based diaries in the New York market, which was delayed until June while Nielsen calmed a political firestorm that erupted over the ratings system that allegedly undercounted African American and Latino households.

Nielsen has denied the charges, but agreed to postpone the implementation of the ratings for two months, while it assured politicians, community leaders, and the public that it was a fair and accurate measurement system. Nielsen also agreed to a third-party advisory council, established by U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to go over the methodology and provide input.

But on Thursday, as she has for the past several weeks, Whiting acknowledged that some of the ratings tallied by the people meter have differed from what has been counted by the paper-based diaries in the local market.

"It's not a decrease in viewing," she said. "It's a change in the channels being viewed."

She pointed out that the people meter has been in use for years nationally, and it's being used as currency in Boston--both places by Fox without complaint.

"We've been talking to all our clients about it. Anytime you have a change in ratings, you have people with questions," Whiting said. "CBS has been very supportive, NBC has been very supportive, ABC has been supportive, Comcast, Time Warner, agencies, advertisers."

Nielsen will launch a media campaign designed to counter the effects of the ads launched by groups opposed to the people meter in New York. It's not just a matter of Nielsen's feathers being ruffled; it's concerned that future ratings will be thrown off by the chill.

"A publicity campaign like this certainly can have an impact with the people in the marketplace. One of the things that concerns us most is that when we go out to recruit people, and we spend so much time and energy doing it, that they're not going to want to participate because they've heard about this situation," Whiting said.

Nielsen has had separate and unrelated issues in two other markets scheduled to receive the people meter. It's scheduled to go into effect in Los Angeles in July and Chicago in August, with another market, San Francisco, going on line later this year. Four more markets are scheduled to have people meter measurements in 2005, and the last, Atlanta, will receive it in 2006 according to the current plans.

"Based on everything that's happened in the past three or four weeks, Nielsen will take a very active role in those communities to make sure that we address questions ahead of time," she said.