Latino meters.Last year, Latino advocacy groups decried the implementation of Nielsen Media Research's Local People Meters The People Meter is a device and system used by Nielsen Media Research in the USA to allow a relatively passive measurement of the viewing habits of TV and cable audiences. The people meter was invented by a British company called Audits of Great Britain, or AGB for short. to measure television viewership view·er·ship n. The people who watch a television program or motion picture: a largely male viewership. , saying that the devices would undercount un·der·count tr.v. un·der·count·ed, un·der·count·ing, un·der·counts To record fewer than the actual number of (persons in a census, for example). minority viewers. The meters measure audience preferences electronically by recording information about shows they watch. After they were installed in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of homes last year, Nielsen reported a sharp decrease in viewership for some television shows that featured minorities, leading to concern among network affiliates and minority groups that the system was flawed. But after a year, Nielsen says that the devices may have had the opposite effect, at least in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. market. Some 800 meters have been installed in L.A.-area homes and the company now says that 32.4 percent of those are in Hispanic households. That's more than the 31.5 percent of area households that are identified as Hispanic, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Karen Gyimesi, Nielsen's vice president of communications. (The sample also reflected 9.2 percent African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. households, while the Los Angeles market is 8.8 percent African American. Nielsen tries to ensure its sample is within two points of demographic data.) The meters could be part of the reason why KMEX-TV (Channel 34), the local Univision affiliate, grabbed the top spot in October's ratings period, although the station's ratings have been on the rise in general as Latino viewership increases. Another factor: the meters don't involve the use of a Nielsen diary, which required viewers to keep a written record of shows they watched in 15-minute increments before sending the information back to Nielsen. Under the diary method, some Latin households may have faced language barriers in reporting the information and keeping participants. "It's much easier to recruit participants in person and attach a box to their TV than it is to blindly mail out a diary and hope people participate," Gyimesi said. Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230, or at ariley-katz@labusinessjournal.com. Staff reporter Kate Berry contributed to this column. |
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