• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 10, 2007

Mere weeks before it will begin reporting average commercial minute ratings, Nielsen has made an 11th hour request to cable networks to begin supplying it with their TV commercial logs to make sure it is properly tracking all their commercial advertising time. The move suggests that Nielsen's commercial monitoring system is not quite up to snuff for measuring commercial ratings, or at least cannot do the job alone, as Nielsen executives have been saying it could.

The request, which was made in letters to all of its national cable network clients, follows a "pre-audit" of Nielsen's Monitor-Plus commercial tracking system for industry ratings watchdog the Media Rating Council, and a recommendation by its auditors at Ernst & Young that Nielsen "request and utilize weekly commercial occurrence logs from all national cable networks that it monitors."

The request is the latest twist in Nielsen's controversial plan to rollout commercial ratings beginning this fall, and comes just as Nielsen is poised to release the first official data for the industry to begin evaluating the new ratings. That release, which will come at the end of this month, comes just as advertisers and agencies are about to begin planning their annual upfront TV advertising buys for major broadcast and cable networks and television syndicators.

Nielsen said it already regularly receives commercial log data from most of its broadcast network and syndication clients, but now needs to collect the log data from cable networks. While cable networks are likely to comply with that request, it will no doubt add fuel to their fire, as the cable industry has been among the chief critics of Nielsen's plan to accelerate the rollout of commercial ratings before they are fully baked.

The cable industry, led by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, forced Nielsen to delay an earlier rollout plan until it could improve its monitoring of cable networks, and the CAB recently formed a "Commercial Ratings Commission" in an effort to have greater influence on the process. The CAB's commission includes representatives of many top media buying shops, which also have been critical of Nielsen's rollout plans and methods.

Another big issue concerns the timing of Nielsen's request, and the impact it could have on cable network research and sales management systems coming just as they are preparing for their annual upfront sales season.

"The question for many is whether they can put people and systems in place to get it done immediately or as fast as three weeks," says one knowledgeable cable industry executive. "The log files are there. Creating a process and system and assigning staff is another story.

"Finally, Nielsen needs to demonstrate that they can handle all the logs - including the cable logs. How will Nielsen put their system in place?"