Nielsen moves sweep for DTV transition
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The February 17, 2009 digital transition won’t be just a big deal for television stations, it will also be a big deal for Nielsen, which will be trying to track viewership as every analog full-power station in America shuts down and DTV takes over. The potential ratings impact has caused Nielsen to reschedule the February sweep to March next year.
Nielsen figures 9.4% of US television households are not capable of viewing DTV because all TV sets in the home are capable of receiving only analog over-the-air broadcasts. Another 6.6% of households have at least one TV set that is not ready for the switch to DTV.
As many of the DTV “unready” households in the Nielsen meter panels acquire digital receivers, converter boxes or switch to cable or satellite, Nielsen field reps will have to hook up meters to the new equipment. But the ratings company is also concerned about keeping its sample representative of the general population, so it is working to make sure that its field staff doesn’t provide panelists with information about DTV that’s not generally available to the public. After talks with the Media Rating Council, Nielsen and the MRC agreed that field reps can’t proactively raise the DTV transition topic with household members. Staffers will, however, have a leave-behind card directing people to the FCC’s website and 800-number if the DTV transition is raised by the panelists.
With such massive changes taking place in television next February, Nielsen says it has been having discussions with clients about whether local audience estimates for February 2009 will be accurate and whether the DTV change-over will cause anomalies in viewing patterns. As a result, Nielsen has decided to move the all-market sweep period from February 2009 to March 2009. Nielsen says it will continue to produce overnights in LPM and Set Meter markets. But the company says its plans may be adjusted over time as facts become clearer. “That includes, potentially, limiting the permissible uses of overnight data if Nielsen determines that the quality of the data does not meet the sample standards that we normally apply,” the company said in a detailed letter to clients.
Nielsen figures 9.4% of US television households are not capable of viewing DTV because all TV sets in the home are capable of receiving only analog over-the-air broadcasts. Another 6.6% of households have at least one TV set that is not ready for the switch to DTV.
As many of the DTV “unready” households in the Nielsen meter panels acquire digital receivers, converter boxes or switch to cable or satellite, Nielsen field reps will have to hook up meters to the new equipment. But the ratings company is also concerned about keeping its sample representative of the general population, so it is working to make sure that its field staff doesn’t provide panelists with information about DTV that’s not generally available to the public. After talks with the Media Rating Council, Nielsen and the MRC agreed that field reps can’t proactively raise the DTV transition topic with household members. Staffers will, however, have a leave-behind card directing people to the FCC’s website and 800-number if the DTV transition is raised by the panelists.
With such massive changes taking place in television next February, Nielsen says it has been having discussions with clients about whether local audience estimates for February 2009 will be accurate and whether the DTV change-over will cause anomalies in viewing patterns. As a result, Nielsen has decided to move the all-market sweep period from February 2009 to March 2009. Nielsen says it will continue to produce overnights in LPM and Set Meter markets. But the company says its plans may be adjusted over time as facts become clearer. “That includes, potentially, limiting the permissible uses of overnight data if Nielsen determines that the quality of the data does not meet the sample standards that we normally apply,” the company said in a detailed letter to clients.
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Comments (2 posted):
The announcement from Nielsen came as a surprise. Nielsen plans to move the February 2009 sweeps to March to avoid "potential disruptions" associated with the switch to digital.
So why be bothered by a minor move in measuring viewers?
As CBS affiliates in the Mountain time zone we must consider this for the new March sweeps period:
20% of Monday-Friday Early News will not run due to March Madness.
20% of Monday-Friday Prime Access will not run due to March Madness.
50% of Regularly Scheduled CBS Thursday Night Prime will not run due to NCAA BB.
50% of Regularly Scheduled CBS Friday Night Prime will not run due to NCAA BB.
10% of Regularly Scheduled CBS Daytime programming will not run due to NCAA BB.
A high probability that Late News will start late due to the live basketball overruns.
These disruptions aren't new to CBS affiliates as the NCAA March Madness tournament has been our franchise for decades...but never in a rating period.
Because this March Nielsen book will be used to represent program viewing in 1st Quarter 2009, doesn't this change give our competitor's Early and Late News programming a ratings advantage? Is that an accurate estimate of first quarter 2009? Aren't some CBS Primetime programs at a disadvantage as the number of sampling nights are cut in half? What affect does the higher than normal male viewership during March Madness have on other affiliates? Is that representative of the markets Q1 viewing? What is the effectiveness of a March book for any station as it's mail dates will only be weeks before the May Sweeps period begins?
As for Nielsen's concern regarding potential disruptions? Hasn't the debate for the last few years been about the digital disruption? What kind of disruption does this cause for the networks if they scramble to stunt March programming?
Television stations have invested millions of dollars in technical equipment anticipating this mandated change to digital. The value of airtime that stations allocate to educate the viewing public is expensive but necessary and in our best interest. (Although there will be some, it's hard to believe that February 2009 will catch a majority of viewers off guard.)
I'd much rather see a February Sweeps period and get a representative sample of what happens during the digital conversion. Isn't the whole purpose of Nielsen to statistically measure a representative sample of the markets television viewing for a period of time? We've already crossed the digital line...now it's time to see what happens.
It seems that the ones most disrupted by the February to March move won't be Nielsen...but us....the client.
Talk about March Madness!
Tim Keating
General Sales Manager
KTVQ-Billings
Director of National Sales-Montana Group
Cordillera Communications
tkeating@ktvq.com
Does anyone else want to weigh in supporting this move? Do the sweeps really matter that much these days?
Jack Messmer
Executive Editor
RBR/TVBR
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