Teen viewing of TV rising in big cities, except Los Angeles.

ARE teen-agers watching more or less TV? A new system for measuring television audiences has found big gains in viewership among 12- to 17-year-olds in major U.S. cities between July 2004 and July 2005, with 30 percent jumps in Chicago and Philadelphia.

Los Angeles, however, was the major exception--and officials at the company that tracks television audiences aren't sure why.

Nielsen Media Research credited the gains in other major cities to the debut of local people meters, which replaced the former diary-based system for reporting viewership with an electronic tracking device.

Nielsen said that because the people meters track viewing information in real time and electronically, they are more accurate than a system that relies on memory and manual record-keeping.

So why did L.A. see a 7.1 percent drop in that age bracket?

"This is just a moment in time--July vs. last July," said Karen Gyimesi, a spokeswoman for Nielsen. "Just because L.A. experienced a decline in the overall day part doesn't mean there were fewer teen-agers watching television there."

Still, the Nielsen ratings are the only universal measurement of television viewing and play an important role in programming decisions and advertising rates. Some broadcasters and black and Hispanic activists have complained that the people meters undercount broadcast and non-white audiences, which Nielsen disputes.

In Los Angeles, eight of the top 10 programs among 12- to 17-year-olds are aired on KTTV (Channel 11), which is owned by Fox Broadcasting Co. Fox's owner, News Corp., has been among the most vocal critics of the people meters. KTTV officials declined to comment.

Looking East

New York is tightening its grip on one of L.A.'s largest advertising offices.

BBDO's Los Angeles office, whose 50 employees reported to a San Francisco-based West Coast president, now will come under direct control of Omnicom Group Inc. company's New York headquarters.

The move is seen as a way to cut costs by eliminating the position of BBDO's veteran West Coast president, Tom Hollerbach, and bringing the Western operations into better alignment with the rest of the agency.

BBDO already has moved to spread more work across its nine U.S. offices. Its account with Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., for example, is split between the L.A. and Atlanta offices. The Mitsubishi account is among the largest handled by the L.A. office, and BBDO spokesman Roy Elvove said there are no plans to reassign it.

In a written statement, Andrew Robertson, president and chief executive of the agency's worldwide and North American operations, portrayed the consolidation of the West Coast operations as a "strategy for growth."

Opportunity Knox

When Loren Ruch departs L.A. for a television job in Knoxville, Tenn., he won't just be leaving behind the area's most successful morning television show, but also a thriving home-based business producing video news releases.

Ruch spent 8 1/2 years as a producer of "Good Day L.A.," helping build the celebrity- and fashion-happy broadcast into the top-rated morning news program in Los Angeles. On the side, Ruch founded and managed In the News LLC, a business dedicated to the growing but controversial practice of video news releases.

Ruch is leaving KTTV-TV (FOX 11), where he was one of four "Good Day L.A." producers, and In the News LLC for a position as an executive producer at Scripps Productions, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Co. that produces Home & Garden Television.

"This is an amazing opportunity for me," Ruch said. "The Scripps job is just a good fit for me because I love lifestyle programming."

KTTV has not announced a replacement for Ruch. His business partner at In the News LLC, Shana Portigal, plans to run the company after he leaves, be said.

Stepping Up

Peter Bart isn't leaving Variety, the entertainment industry trade publication he's presided over since 1989. But Bart is placing more power in the hands of a deputy, Timothy M. Gray, who has an even longer history with the publication.

Bart, editor-in-chief, named Gray editor of Variety and Daily Variety as part of a shuffling of top editorial positions at the publication, which is owned by Netherlands-based Reed Elsevier PLC.

Variety said Elizabeth Guider, the L.A.-based executive editor for news, will take a closer role in managing Variety's New York operations, while Steven Gaydos, the executive editor for features, will have a more hands-on role in L.A. since his recent relocation from London.

The promotion of Gray, who writes a column lampooning Hollywood's excesses, is meant to signal continuity at Variety, Bart told his publication. He also said that by handing over more authority to Gray, Bart could focus on creating new editions of the paper and exploring opportunities to branch out into radio and television.

Staff reporter James Nash can be reached at [phone], ext. 230, or at [e-mail].