Major Cable Nets Opt Out Of Nielsen’s New Ad Ratings Plan
ESPN, as well as MTV, Discovery and Turner’s TNT and TBS all indicated that they “wouldn’t take part, at least initially, in [Nielsen Media Research’s] effort to measure the average viewership for all the national commercial minutes that run during a program,” according to Brian Steinberg of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The networks are “unhappy with how Nielsen is calculating the new ratings.” The nets’ decision comes on the heels of GE’s NBC Universal statement Monday that its cable networks “would opt out.” Also, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, a cable industry trade group, has “recommended that its members not take part for now.” Cable execs “object that Nielsen systems have trouble distinguishing between a national and a local ad within the same commercial break on a cable channel,” among other things. So far, there is “no sign that broadcast networks will follow suit in pulling out of the ratings plan” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/25). Turner Cable Networks Chief Research Officer Jack Wakshlag wrote to Nielsen, “You know the data is not ready. I am distressed that you will be releasing it anyway, even as ‘evaluative,’ and strongly urge you to reconsider” (N.Y. POST, 10/25).
|
